Death's Messengers
by ConnArtist
Summary: [Complete] After Don is attacked in a dark alley, everything changes, not only for him, but for his whole family. The turtles and Splinter are about to go on a whirlwind ride through a strange world filled with demons, magic, and death...
1. Taken for Granted

Disclaimer: The Ninja Turtles do not belong to me. Please don't sue me, because I'm definitely not making money off of this.  
  
A/N: This is my first Turtles fic...but I'm really surprised I haven't ever written one before. They were my first obsession, oh so long ago. Hope you like it. Oh, and be forewarned.....this is gonna get pretty weird. Don't take anything at face value!  
  
----  
  
"Don! The TV's broken again!"  
  
"I'm busy Raph!"  
  
"Busy doing what?"  
  
"Fixing the motorcycle...which, I believe you demanded I fix yesterday."  
  
"Well, you should've fixed it yesterday...fix the TV now!"  
  
Donatello sighed and put down his screwdriver. "I don't have the parts I need for that, Raph. I'll fix it later."  
  
"Fix it now, Don! The Jets play in an hour!"  
  
"They're not even any good this year." Don liked and paid attention to football, but Raphael would never admit that Don might just know more than him.  
  
"They are so!"  
  
"Whatever," said Don, not willing to argue with his brother any longer. He was tired of the motorcycle anyway. It was a real grease bucket. "I'll have to go get a few parts for it. I may not even be back before the game starts."  
  
"You better get back!" Raph said, pounding his fist on the TV.  
  
Don sighed again and grabbed his duffel bag. On his way out of the lair he was stopped by Michelangelo. "Hey Don, can ya pick me up some pizza, and maybe some batteries for my Gameboy?" Don shrugged, "Sure, whatever." His voice was flat.  
  
"Oh," Mike said just as Don turned his back, "Leo told me to tell you that he wants you to fix his reading light sometime today." Donatello kept his back turned and nodded. As he walked out of the lair, Don was happy his brothers could not see the angry look on his face.  
  
"Jeez...what's up his butt?" came Raphael's sardonic reply after Don had left. Michelangelo could only shrug, but before he and Raph could get back to relaxing, Splinter's voice came to them from the other room.  
  
"It's very simple, Raphael," Splinter said, "He's tired of fixing everything that you break, and he's tired of running errands for everyone." Raphael frowned and sat down on the couch to watch TV snow. Mike looked thoughtful for a moment, shrugged, and plopped down in a chair to watch the TV snow with Rapael.  
  
"Hey, I think I can see a Jet!" Mike said, ducking under a projectile pillow courtesy of Raph.  
  
----  
  
Donatello peered out of the manhole for several minutes to make certain that no one was in the alley. Then he silently climbed out, careful not to catch his duffel bag on anything. He would need to go to the junkyard and look for parts, which was something he usually enjoyed, but was dreading tonight.  
  
I really don't want to do this, Don thought sullenly. It's super cold out; I could be home reading a book or working on something worthwhile.  
  
Don sighed. Thinking negative thoughts wasn't going to get him anywhere. He needed to just get this over with.  
  
Or stand up for myself more often. The thought entered Don's brain like an arrow, and the shaft buried itself in deep. I'm such a social wuss....I let them all push me around just because I don't like confrontation. Don crossed his arms. That does it, he thought firmly. I'm going back down there and giving them a piece of my mind.  
  
Don turned around to climb back down the manhole, but was shocked to see a dark figure blocking his path. At first he was so stunned that someone could sneak up on him so well that he didn't move. Then, the figure took a quick step forward and Don pulled out his bo.  
  
"Hold it, pal," Don said calmly, "I don't want any trouble here. I'm just trying to get home."  
  
The figure took another step forward, and Don glanced around quickly for an escape route. He didn't feel threatened by the figure, he just, as usual, preferred not to have a confrontation if he could help it, even in light of his newfound resolve against his brothers. Don saw that the back of the alley was guarded by a short fence, which he could easily vault himself over. Don took one more look at the figure, which had halted its progress, and took off for the back of the alley.  
  
Before Don could take two steps, the dark figure was in front of him again. This time, it was bathed in the light of a dim streetlamp, and Don recoiled in horror. Underneath a tattered black hood glowed two somewhat sickly green eyes, the fire behind flickering with an unnatural life. Don could see, glittering in the light of the street lamp, black scales so dark they were cast with a purple hue. Don could also see a pointed snout, with a black forked tongue flickering in and out.  
  
"Woah...I...weird. I'm outta here." Don turned to run the other way, but again, two steps into his movement, he was blocked by the figure in black. Don stumbled backward in astonishment and landed on his rear with a thump. He stood up immediately and tried once again to run. He was again blocked, but this time Don crashed into figure, intending to knock it down long enough to make a getaway. It was like running into a brick wall. Donatello was knocked to the ground once again, but this time he didn't have the chance to stand up; the dark figure had him pinned to the ground, though exactly how he was pinned, Donatello was not certain. He did not have much time to consider the logistics of his predicament, as two cold, scaly black hands closed over his throat. Don tried valiantly to struggle free, but he could not move, could not breathe. Slowly, the life began to seep from him; his vision became a black tunnel, closing around him. Excruciating pain turned into unbearable agony, which went on for several moments until finally, mercifully, Donatello felt himself slip into comfortable nothingness.  
  
A/N: There we go...chapter one! Stick with me, folks, I've got a long way to go here. Review if you like, cause -I'd- really like it! 


	2. Explanations?

Disclaimer: I don't own the Ninja Turtles. Don't sue me, please please please.  
  
----  
  
Donatello stood up. His hands went immediately to his neck, but the pain that should have been there was not. It almost seemed like what had just happened was nothing but a dream. However, it must have been real, for the dark figure was once again standing in front of him.  
  
"Who ARE you?" Don asked exasperatedly. "Look behind you," the figure said with a quiet and raspy voice. Don hesitated; he didn't really want to turn his back on this guy.  
  
"I won't attack you again," the figure stated, "You wouldn't be able to defend yourself anyway."  
  
Donatello frowned and continued to face the man. "I don't believe you."  
  
"I could easily pin you again, and you would have just as much luck escaping as you had before."  
  
Don grunted and took a quick glance over his shoulder....which turned immediately into a long and horrified stare. There, lying on the ground, Donatello saw himself, a ring of angry bruises encircling his neck, and several strange-looking burn marks on his forearms and plastron.  
  
-----  
  
"Dude, do you think maybe we should stop bothering Don so much?"  
  
"Mikey, don't worry about it. Don's just got a stick up his butt."  
  
"But Spinter said..."  
  
"Bah." Raph waved a dismissive hand at Michelangelo and continuted to stare at the broken television set. Raph frowned. "Man, I wish he would get back. I'm missing the game."  
  
"Why don't you turn on the radio?" Leonardo came walking into the room, a wooden sword twirling absently in his right hand.  
  
"It's not the same!" Raphael whined, "There'll be an awesome touchdown catch or something, and all I'll get is the announcer screaming about how incredible the play was!"  
  
Leo shrugged, "At least you'll know what's going on."  
  
Raph sneered at his brother and turned back to the TV. Leonardo shrugged and left the room, undoubtedly to return to his training. Michelangelo stood up from his chair and began to pace the room. Raph ignored him as long as he could, but finally he couldn't stand it.  
  
"Mike! Stop pacing! What's your problem anyway?" "I'm just...I feel bad about Don. He's always working on something while we sit around and watch him. We should....get him a present....or something."  
  
Raphael shook his head at Mikey. "Don's fine, jeez. If he didn't like fixing everything for us, he'd say something."  
  
"No he wouldn't. He's DON."  
  
At this Raph blinked. "Well, yeah...I guess he wouldn't." Raphael looked displeased at having to concede Mike's point. "Well, we can apologize to him when he gets back....or something." Raph frowned. Mikey, on the other hand, looked very pleased.  
  
"YOU'RE gonna aplogize?" Mike said, his terrapin face spread in a wide grin, "That'd really throw Don for a loop." "Yeah, whatever."  
  
----  
  
"Wha....me....I....WHAT IS THIS!" Donatello whirled around to face the dark figure. "That's ME.....how?" Don took a few deep breaths in an attempt to calm himself, but instead began to pant hysterically. The dark figure just stood there watching him, seemingly waiting for Donatello to regain his composure.....as if that was going to happen.  
  
Slowly, Donatello turned around and stared at himself on the ground. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, opened them, and was despaired to find that he was still lying on the ground. He took a few steps back and patted his hands over his plastron, trying to see if he was real. He felt real enough, but he was afraid to see if his counterpart on the ground was real as well.  
  
"It's real enough," the figure said in his raspy voice, seeming to read Donatello's thoughts, "But you shouldn't touch it."  
  
Donatello shivered. "I don't want to touch...it. What's going on here? Why did you try to kill me?"  
  
"I didn't try to kill you."  
  
"Yes you did. You tried to strangle me."  
  
"As I said, I didn't try to kill you, I did kill you."  
  
Don blinked, but strangely, this explanation made sense. After all, there was his body, lying lifeless on the ground. But, then again, it made absolutely no sense, because here he was, talking to the guy who had supposedly 'killed' him.  
  
"But...I....god, this is nuts. You did strangle me, I remember that." Don looked at the figure, "And I really should be kicking your butt right now."  
  
The shoulders of the dark figured moved slightly in what could have been a laugh. However, Donatello could not see anything but glowing green eyes underneath a tattered hood; the figure had stepped out of the light of the streetlamp....though it almost seemed to Don that the light had stepped away from the figure.  
  
"What is all this? Please explain....I really can't believe that you killed me...it's just not......right." Don was beginning to look a bit frantic. He could see the green eyes of the figure bob slightly, perhaps in a nod.  
  
"I will explain," he said, "But you must try to relax."  
  
"Relax?? I hope you're joking."  
  
"A bit, yes. Most people have trouble relaxing after they've died, but I can assure you that all will be well."  
  
"How can you expect me to believe that I'm dead? Or, for that matter, that 'all will be well.' "  
  
"Well, do you know what happens when you die?" The dark man's voice seemed to contain a bit of amusement, though Don wasn't sure since the voice was so raspy.  
  
"Well, no...I don't," Don conceded reluctantly, "But well...if I'm dead, how can I be talking to my killer?"  
  
The green eyes bobbed again. "Good, now we're on the same page. The explanation is simple. I am not of the living world."  
  
"Um, excuse me? That's not really a simple answer," Don momentarily forgot his horror and crossed his arms in exasperation.  
  
"It will seem that way eventually. You see, there are two worlds. To put it at its most basic, one is of the living, the other is of the dead. Though, we of the dead do not really consider ourselves 'dead.' We usually refer to ourselves as Demons." The dark figure slowly pulled off his hood, revealing a black, serpentine face, his snout coming to a blunt point. His face was entirely covered with scales, those above his eyes somewhat larger and thicker than the rest. From the back of his neck sprouted a row of mean-looking spines, which dwindled to blunt nubs atop his head. Now that the hood was removed, Donatello could see that those green glowing eyes did not have pupils, but continued to glow with fervor. He wasn't as stunned upon seeing the face this time, but it was still a bit of a shock.  
  
"Demons..." Donatello said, shaking his head.  
  
"Yes, Demons. I suppose we really aren't what legend and myth would consider to be a demon, but we can pretend, I suppose. Not everyone looks like me. In fact, I doubt there's anyone in the demon world who looks the same." The long reptilian snout curved up into a smile. "I really hope you can forgive me for killing you, but I can assure you I had no choice."  
  
"No choice, huh?" Don said, still not believing he was really dead. He had convinced himself that the body lying on the ground was nothing but a dummy or some kind of genetic replica....or not really there at all. "I really hope you don't think I'm gonna believe all this junk?"  
  
"I don't expect you to yet, but you will." With lightning-fast speed, a scaly hand attached itself to Don's upper arm. "Come with me, please," he said, and began to lead Don away from his own body. Don tried to struggle, but the vice grip could not be broken, and the stregnth of the serpent man was incredible. Don's eyes widened with renewed horror as the air in front of them seemed to rip open like a sheet of paper. The serpent man waved his free hand and the tear widened. Then, Don speechless with horror and the serpent man grinning widely, the two passed into the tear, which promptly sealed behind them.  
  
----  
  
"Ok, Don's been gone for almost four hours. This is rediculous!" Raph had begun pacing the lair, though he had been loudly proclaming for an hour that it was because he had missed his game.  
  
"Yeah," Mike said, coming into the room from the kitchen, "It never takes him this long to get parts."  
  
"He's probably doing it to piss me off!" Raph said a little too loudly.  
  
Leonardo and Splinter entered the room. Leo looked annoyed at Raph for yelling, but Splinter had an unmistakeable look of concern on his face.  
  
"My sons," he said quietly, "I believe you should go look for your brother. He has been gone far longer than is normal."  
  
Mike looked extremely worried at his master's words. "You don't think something happened to him, do you Master?"  
  
Splinter could only shake his head, "I don't know, Michelangelo, but it would be better to err on the side of caution."  
  
Michelangelo nodded and turned to his brothers. "Any ideas where he would have gone? I mean, yeah, the junkyard, but what tunnels would he have taken?"  
  
Leonardo looked thoughtful. "Well, that's a tough call. There's way too many routes to everything." Leonardo paused for a moment, seeming to weigh his options, "Ok, we'll split up of course, but the hard part will be coordinating who goes where. Raph, you and I will take the northern tunnels, Mike, you take on the western tunnels. I doubt he took any of the southern or eastern routes since those would take him away from the the junkyard. Don's a pretty logical guy, so hopefully this will work. Raph and I will split up in the northern tunnels since they're more expansive. Everyone bring along a phone, and try to make your way to the junkyard within an hour."  
  
As Leonardo rattled off orders, Mike became more and more anxious to get going. A strange feeling was welling up in his gut, and he wanted to just get going and find Don as fast as possible.  
  
"Ok guys," Leonardo was saying, "Let's go."  
  
Mike took off out of the lair before Leo had completed his sentence, and was forced to rush right back in a moment later and grab a phone. Then, he and his brothers made their way into the sewer tunnels to search for their missing brother.  
  
----  
  
A/N: I want to thank you guys for reviewing...I appreciate it so much! Your comments are very helpful, and it makes writing this stuff even more rewarding. Stay tuned! 


	3. Here There be Monsters

Disclaimer: I don't own the Ninja Turtles, but I do own some of the other stuff in this story. I'll disclaim it in the next chapter once everyone has read about that other stuff.  
  
----  
  
Michelangelo's breath caught in his throat. He couldn't breathe for several moments, but eventually the air escaped from his throat in a choked sob. He fell to his knees, his eyes moving frantically over the body of Donatello, his hand feeling for a pulse that wasn't there. His brother was dead, and Michelangelo couldn't believe it. His hand fumbled for the cell phone, but as he pulled it from his belt, his shaky hands fumbled and dropped it to the ground. Mike tried for it again, this time able to bring the phone to his ear.  
  
"Leo? Raph?" His voice trembled, sounded old. There was a long pause, and then a voice on the other end.  
  
"Mike?" It was Leo, "Hey, me and Raph just met up, but neither of us found anything. Did you find him?"  
  
Michelangelo couldn't answer. He didn't know how to tell Leo that their brother was gone. He sat in silence. Several moments later Leo's voice came again.  
  
"Are you there? Did we lose our signal?"  
  
"No..no.I'm here." Mike said quietly, his eyes turned away from his fallen brother.  
  
"Well, did you find him?" Leo sounded hopeful. Mike couldn't bear to shatter it..but he had to.  
  
"I.found him. Leo..he's.." Mike choked off another sob. Leo heard it. "Oh god.Mike, is he ok?" "No.no, he's not ok.he's dead."  
  
----  
  
Donatello watched in horrible fascination as he and the serpent man stepped through a rip in the fabric of the living world and stepped into a place that Don could barely believe. They seemed to step out of nothing into a throng of people.though 'people' was not the word Don would have used to describe them. The serpent man had been right about calling his people Demons. They were every color that existed, covered with all manner of spikes, horns, fur, wings, claws, fangs, stingers, pincers, scales...Don couldn't even begin to categorize all the beasts he saw. He even saw a few humans, though they seemed to be the minority here. Stranger still was that no one even noticed them. Clearly they had stepped out of nowhere, but this seemed to be a normal occurrence.  
  
Don was also fascinated by the buildings. Some of them were so tall that he couldn't even see the tops of them, which were wreathed in clouds thousands upon thousands of feet in the air. Others were so small that Don could have stepped on them. He was so fascinated that he barely noticed the serpent man's vice-like grip on his arm.  
  
Everywhere there were vendors, most of them peddling food, but other selling all manner of baubles and trinkets. Donatello wondered what type of monetary system existed in a world of the dead, but he could see no exchange of anything. People just took things off of the stands and walked away with them. The vendors didn't seem to mind at all. He thought to ask the serpent man, but was distracted as they came over a rise, which revealed an enormous lake, easily hundreds of miles wide, its water a vicious purple hue.  
  
"Wow." Don breathed.  
  
"Pretty amazing, isn't it?" The serpent man said, releasing Don's bicep. "This is the city of Bonang, in the very heart of Goodspeed Province."  
  
"Goodspeed Province?"  
  
"The best and safest place you can possibly live in here in the Demon world. You have to be pretty good to live here, so nobody gets killed."  
  
"Demons can get killed?" Don felt completely out of his league.  
  
"Sure. Hey, let's hit a café, and I'll answer all your questions. It's a bit too busy to just stand around in the street and talk." The serpent man smiled and led Don to a side road. A few more turns past some quaint looking shops, and he seemed to find what he had been searching for. The café was called 'Dragon's Fiddle,' and Don was more than shocked to enter the place and see a dragon sitting on a stool playing a fiddle.  
  
"Boy, they weren't kidding.." He said, plopping down in a chair.  
  
"It's best to take things literally here," the serpent man said with a smile "Especially when it comes to the food. Never order anything that is a 'surprise.' "  
  
"I'll keep that in mind," Don said, rubbing a hand over his face.  
  
"So, I guess you have some questions," the serpent man said, waving away the waitress who had just come to their table.  
  
"Yeah," said Don, "You could say that. I guess, first of all, what's your name?"  
  
The serpent man laughed. "How rude of me. My name is Ssylvar."  
  
"That's a tough one to pronounce." Don said, doing his best to smile, "But I'll do my best. My name is Donatello, by the way."  
  
Ssylvar grinned and flicked his reptilian tongue. "Interesting name..mind if I call you Don?" Donatello shook his head, and the serpent man continued, "Ssylvar isn't my real name, of course, but I thought I needed something to fit my Demonic appearance. My real name is.well...I hate it. My real name is Eugene."  
  
"Ah.well, I'll call you Sslyvar if you like." "I would, if you please." "Ok, next question..does everyone here come from the living world?" Don looked anxious, as if afraid he had asked a stupid question.  
  
"Yep," Ssylvar said, "Everyone here was once a living, breathing human being..well, most of them. We've got quite a few dolphins, some dinosaurs, gargoyles.."  
  
"Really? Dinosaurs? Most everyone is human? But..it seemed like there weren't that many humans."  
  
"That's the great part about this world. You see, when a person is brought here, they're given the opportunity to choose a sort of 'demon form.' It can look like whatever they want it to look like. The only thing is, it's permanent.they can't change it once its been created. They can change back to their old form if they want to." Ssylvar's body suddenly began to ripple.at least, that's how Don perceived it. Then, unbelievably, where there had once been a serpent man sitting in front of Don, there was now a skinny human teenager.  
  
"Wow." Don couldn't say much else. Before he got a chance to comment any further, the boy's body rippled and there was once again a burly serpent man sitting in front of him.  
  
"I'm not fond of my human body," Sslyvar said, and shrugged.  
  
"Ok..so..do I have to choose a demon form?" Don looked a little worried.  
  
"No, you definitely don't HAVE to."  
  
Don sighed with apparent relief. "Good.I don't think I want to change how I look..it's just too weird for me."  
  
Ssylvar grinned. "Many people don't choose right away. You may feel differently later."  
  
Don shrugged and was certain that he wouldn't.  
  
"Ok," Donatello said, his voice losing any bit of friendliness, "Time to get serious here. Why did you kill me?"  
  
"Ah, so you've finally accepted reality?"  
  
"I guess I have no choice. Otherwise, this is one really elaborate dream, and I can't say I believe that theory, as my dreams are never THIS detailed." Don crossed his arms on the table, "So, out with it. Why'd you kill me?"  
  
"Well, that's where things get rather complicated. Perhaps if I tell you about myself and what I do, you may understand better?"  
  
Don shrugged, "Whatever you want. Apparently I have all day."  
  
Ssylvar grinned, "Indeed you do. Make yourself comfortable Don."  
  
Ssylvar leaned back in his chair and began his tale.  
  
"I've been dead for a long, long time. Five thousand, four hundred and fifty-five years, I believe, if you count the rest of this year. You may ask why I speak perfect English but the answer is rather simple. Everyone hears their own native tongue. When you're a demon, your mind translates everything without you even knowing it.  
  
"But anyway, that's just a minor technical issue. As I said, I've been dead a very long time, and I barely remember my life back in the living world. I was about thirteen when I died.fell off a cliff. Well, actually, I was pushed off a cliff by my cousin, but that's neither here nor there. He got what was coming to him.  
  
"I was escorted here by a man named Ichthius. He appeared to me as a tall, regal man, and I wasn't frightened by him. He explained a few things to me and sent me on my way in this very city. I was pretty much left on my own.  
  
"I lived on the streets for a short time before a family took me in and explained everything, including Ichthius.  
  
"You see, when a person dies, they can't get to the demon world on their own. They have to be brought here by someone. A 'Messenger of Death.' A Reaper. Ichthius was a Reaper, one of three hundred and sixty-four others. One for each day of the year. They work in teams of seven, one team per week, escorting the formerly living to the world of the dead. Their power is great, and time slows down for them when they're working. Otherwise they could never keep up with the dead.  
  
"As you may have guessed by now, I am a Reaper. I was chosen by a group vote among the existing Reapers after my predecessor decided to retire. The Reapers are ranked one through three hundred sixty-five, with number one being the most powerful of all. The number one is known as the Siyem, the most powerful demon in the world.  
  
"All Reapers are powerful, but there are some rules. Most importantly, we can't kill anyone unless they attack us first. There's no rule that says we can't provoke the attack." Ssylvar grinned maliciously at Donatello, who frowned slightly. This was becoming just a bit too much for the young turtle.  
  
"Anyway," Ssylvar said, "Reapers can't just go around killing people. Other demons can kill all they want, and many of them do, because once a demon dies, his or her power is passed on to their killer. Reapers can collect the power of other demons when we're forced to kill them, but we're not supposed to.  
  
"We Reapers are also the only demons with the power to return to the world of the living, but we can only do it if we're escorting someone here, or, on the rare occasion that Gaia orders us to return."  
  
"Gaia?" Donatello leaned forward on the table.  
  
"Gaia. The spirit of the Earth. She's the one who makes our rules. The only one of us who can speak to her is the Siyem, and her power and rules are passed down through him to the rest of us. As long as Gaia is bound to the Siyem, we are bound to her.  
  
"And that brings us to why I had to kill you. Very recently our Siyem was destroyed. We don't know how it happened..the Siyem is very difficult to kill. All we know is that fifteen of our other Reapers are dead as well.  
  
"Nearly all Reapers are chosen by the remaining group, however, when it comes to the Siyem, as well as the three hundred and sixty-fifth Reaper, both are chosen by Gaia. She chose you long ago, when you were only a few years old. Ideally, you would have been approached many many years after your death, when the current Siyem had decided to retire. However, his untimely death forced us to kill you early and bring you here. It was a very rare occurrence indeed, for I actually got to speak to Gaia myself in regards to this matter." Ssylvar looked rather pleased with himself.  
  
"So.wait," Don said, "You're saying that I'm to be the next Siyem? The most powerful demon of all?"  
  
"Yep."  
  
"What if I refuse?"  
  
"Then you die."  
  
A/N : Well, that was a pretty long chapter. Thanks again to anyone who reads this.I really really appreciate it. 


	4. What Now?

Disclaimer: Don't sue me, please. I don't own the Ninja Turtles, though I do own Ssylvar, the Reapers, the Siyem, and the Demon world.  
  
A/N : Sorry about the formatting problems. Apparently the text isn't coming in from Word exactly how I've written it. I'll see what I can do to fix it, but for now, if you see a period between words that doesn't look like it belongs, there was probably a set of ellipses there. Also, sometimes things that I do a hard return on come back up to the line above. I apologize for any confusion with dialogue when that happens. I'll try changing the program I use to write these in.  
  
----  
  
Leonardo stood in silence as Michelangelo's words reached his ears. Raphael was watching him intently, trying to figure out what was going on.  
  
"Leo, what is it? Is Don ok?" Raph had the distinct feeling that he wasn't ok. Leo couldn't think, couldn't speak, and it was his silence that gave Raphael the answer.  
  
"No...." Raph said, grabbing the phone from Leonardo's hand, "Mike, tell me that Don's ok! Tell me that nothing's wrong!"  
  
Mike felt his stomach crawl up his throat at Raph's plea. He couldn't tell Raphael that everything was fine, but he wasn't sure he could tell him the truth either. He must have been silent for a long time, because he heard Raph's voice screaming at him.  
  
"Answer me, dammit! Tell me that Don's alright!"  
  
Mike shook his head, but of course Raph couldn't see it. Swallowing the bile that was rising into his throat, Mike took on some resolve. "He's not ok, Raph...." he said, wiping tears from his eyes, "He's dead. Somebody...." Mike wasn't sure he could say it, "Somebody....strangled him."  
  
----  
  
"Wait, run that by me again...." Don wasn't sure he'd heard Ssylvar correctly....at least he was hoping he hadn't.  
  
"You heard me. If you don't accept the job of Siyem, you'll be killed."  
  
"So....great. I don't get a lot of choices in this, do I?" Don didn't give Ssylvar a chance to answer his rhetorical question. "First you kill me before I'm supposed to die, then you drag me through a hole in reality to a place I can barely believe exists, and now you're telling me that I'm supposed to become the most powerful Demon in the whole world? And, on top of all that, if I don't accept this job, you're going to kill me again? Great. So, what happens when I die as a demon?" Don took a few deep breaths....he was starting to sound a bit hysterical, and it frightened the usually calm turtle.  
  
Ssylvar shook his head slowly, "No one knows what happens when Demons die....well, except Gaia, and if she's ever told the Siyem about it, well, the info's never been passed along. It's kind of ironic, actually. You find out what happens when you die and come to this world, but you still have to worry about what happens if you die as a demon. I guess Gaia has a sense of humor."  
  
Don didn't think it was funny. In fact, this whole ordeal was beginning to fray his nerves completely. "This is all just so....hard to digest," Don said after a long pause, "I'm still way back on page one....I've barely accepted that I'm not alive, and I've again barely accepted that I'm in a world full of....well, dead people." Don paused as their waitress returned. Ssylvar was about to wave her away again, but Don held up his index finger. "Could I get a coffee, please? Black as you can make it." The waitress, who looked a bit like a poodle, smiled in what seemed to be a genuine way, snapped her fingers, and a cup of black coffee appeared in front of Don. He nearly leapt out of his seat, and then cast an embarrassed look back at the woman, but she had already moved on to another table.  
  
"You've been dealt a bad hand," Ssylvar was saying, "Usually people get a chance to get used to this place, but we really need a Siyem now, and you're it. If you don't accept, you have to be killed so another can be chosen."  
  
Donatello sighed and reluctantly took a drink of his coffee. He was a little afraid it would turn him into something unnatural, but his need for it outweighed the risks. "You know, I really don't want to be the most powerful anything. I'm just a techno geek."  
  
Ssylvar chuckled, "That's part of the reason you've been chosen. The Siyem can't be a power hungry monster bent on universal rule. Its far better to have someone who will respect the power and responsibility they've been given."  
  
Don took another drink of his coffee; it was actually quite good for having materialized out of thin air. "So...you said that the first and last Reapers are chosen by Gaia. Why is the weakest one picked by her?"  
  
Ssylvar shrugged, "We're not really sure, though I think it's because no one would accept the job of the weakest Reaper. It's pretty degrading."  
  
"Ok.." Don said, thinking he would much rather be the weakest one, "Let me ask you another question. When my family dies, will they come here as well? I'm assuming that they will, but well....I can see that assuming things around here doesn't work."  
  
"Yep, they'll come here, and you'll be able to find them. But, if you die because you didn't want to be the Siyem, you'll never see them again."  
  
"I guess that decides it for me," Don said, defeat in his voice.  
  
"Now, don't sound so happy about it." Ssylvar's tongue flicked out between his grin.  
  
"Well, what do you expect?" Don said, frowning at the serpent man.  
  
"I expect that you'll consider this the best decision you've ever made." Ssylvar continued to grin, his tongue flickering again.  
  
----  
  
Raphael and Leonardo were racing through the sewers of New York at a breakneck pace. Neither could truly believe that Donatello was dead, and that, if they hurried, they might just be able to save his life. They just knew that Michelangelo's judgement had been off; the shock of seeing their brother hurt must have been too much for him.  
  
Sadly, when they reached the alley where Donatello had met Ssylvar, there could be no question that he was indeed dead. Leonardo was frozen in place several feet from the body, but Raph rushed over to it, his hand desperately trying to find a pulse.  
  
"I think I found one!" Raph said, his voice hoarse, but Michelangelo shook his head.  
  
"No Raph....I already tried." Michelangelo was looking at the ground.  
  
"You didn't try hard enough!" Raphael yelled, tears beginning to stream from his eyes. Mike said nothing, and continuted to stare at the ground. They would all need to deal with this in their own way.  
  
There was a silence between them that lasted for several minutes, and then Leonardo began to speak. At first it was so soft that the other two could barely hear him.  
  
"Donatello was the kindest and gentlest of all of us, and he didn't deserve this. I'll miss you, Don." Leo bowed his head, tears trailing in rivers down his face. Mike had thought he was all cried out, but at Leo's words the tears began to fall again. Finally, after several deep breaths, he found his voice.  
  
"Dude, I'm so sorry this happened to you Donnie. I don't know what to say, but it's not gonna be the same without you." Mike sighed and wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. Raphael was still kneeling over Donatello's body, but he wasn't crying anymore. Instead he had a look of pure rage on his face.  
  
"I'm gonna find out who did this to you, Don," Raph said, "And when I do, they'll wish they were dead."  
  
The three remaining turtles stayed in the alley for some time, staring down at their fallen brother. Only once did anyone bother them, but it was just an old homeless man who after glancing at them for a moment, turned around and left. Finally, Leonardo stood up and walked to the back of the alley where a dumpster was sitting. He rummaged through it for several minutes before coming up with two fairly large and supremely tattered bedsheets. He and Michelangelo carefully wrapped up Donatello's body, and the three of them began their somber procession back home, where they would have to tell Splinter that his son was dead.  
  
----  
  
Donatello knocked back the last of his coffee and felt the strong desire to have a beer or two. Everything was just happening too fast; too many things were flying at him at once, and he was expected to just accept it all and move on.  
  
It's not that easy, Donatello thought, taking advantage of a lull in the conversation to focus his mind. I mean, what if I'm going crazy, and this is nothing but a delusion? Don looked over to one of the tables, where the poodle waitress was flirting with a tiger man. Well, he thought, if it is a delusion, it sure is a doozy.  
  
"So, are you going to accept the job or not?" Sslyvar's raspy voice jolted Don from his thoughts. Don rubbed his hand vigorously over his face. "I.give me a few minutes, ok? I need to run all this stuff over in my mind."  
  
Sslyvar nodded, "Sure, no problem. If you need me, I'll be over there," He pointed a scaly hand toward the back of the café, "One of my buddies is over there. He's a Reaper too, y'know."  
  
Don's eyes followed Sslyvar's guesture. There, sitting alone in a dark corner was a gruesome figure. He wore the same type of black robe that Ssylvar had, but unfortunately for any onlookers, he had the hood down. The man's skin was a pallid gray, sickly and lined with blue veins. His face looked almost to be melting, it was covered with so many wrinkles. From the top of his head hung several wayward strands of hair, white and whispy, but for the most part he was bald. Perhaps the most disturbing feature of the man, however, were the two extra arms sprouting from his back, coming up through sloppily cut holes in the back of his robe. The joints were abnormal, coming in all manner of incorrect places and in too great of quantity. The fingers were also abnormally jointed, the right hand having only three fingers which ended with cracked and dirty fingernails, and the left hand having five, though they were more like claws than actual fingers; long and black and razor sharp.  
  
Ssylvar grinned, winked at Don and sauntered over to his friend. Don could not figure out why anyone would want to look like that. Apparently the man had chosen the look on his own, as had the rest of these people, but..why?  
  
Maybe he wants to freak people out, Don thought, hoping he was finally starting to at least understand something. Donatello sighed. He just wasn't cut out for this sort of thing. What he wouldn't give to be fixing motorcycles and televisions right now.  
  
This thought made Donatello wonder if his brothers had found his body yet..or, for that matter, if someone else had found it. He felt sorry for his brothers. They would be griefstricken, and if they did find his body, they would surely know he had been murdered. There was no way they could know that he was ok, that they would get to see him again someday. He truly wished he could go back and comfort them; tell them all about what happens when you die. It was then that Donatello realized he was finally beginning to accept what was going on. He had to. The alternative was to deny everything and be unhappy. I'm a scientist, Don thought, I should be glad to be here. Just think of all the new stuff I have to learn!  
  
He was starting to feel better, though he knew it would take some time to truly accept this place. He had to admit that it did fascinate him. He couldn't wait to explore this city and talk to some of the people. He was also thrilled to notice, now that he had time to look at the people in the café, that many of them were talking on cell phones or using laptops. So, technology didn't die with its creators.  
  
Ssylvar came back a few minutes later, his face more serious than before.  
  
"What's the matter?" Don asked, looking toward the back of the café where the ugly Reaper was still sitting. Ssylvar shook his head.  
  
"Nothing you need to worry about. Just some work-related business."  
  
Donatello frowned, "Well, if I'm to be this number one guy, shouldn't I know about your work-related business?"  
  
Ssylvar blinked, his face curling into a smile again, "So, you're gonna take the job?"  
  
Donatello nodded.  
  
"That's great!" Ssylvar said, jumping up from his seat, "Hey everybody!" The whole café turned to look at him, "Check out your new Siyem. His name's Donatello. Not a great name, I know, but I'm sure we'll get used to it." The entire café broke out in loud applause, and Don felt the blood rush to his face. He was glad that turtles didn't blush.  
  
"Stand up and wave to your subjects!" Ssylvar said, patting Don on the back.  
  
"My subjects?" Don asked, staying in his seat, "I'm not supposed to be their leader, am I?"  
  
"You're gonna be the most powerful Demon there is, Donny. Everyone will do what you say." Sslyvar's tongue flickered in and out, his smile seeming less friendly to Don all of a sudden. Then, with lightning speed, the serpent man grabbed onto Don's arm and pulled him out of his seat.  
  
"My fellow Demons, let's hear it for your new Siyem!" Ssylvar released Don's bicep and threw up his own arms, which prompted a loud cheer from those in the café. Don look around himself in horror, wondering what he had gotten himself into. 


	5. Memorial

Disclaimer: Don't sue me, please. I don't own the Ninja Turtles, though I do own Ssylvar, the Reapers, the Siyem, and the Demon world.  
  
----  
  
"My son.my poor kind Donatello." Splinter was wracked with grief when the brothers returned to the lair with their terrible cargo. Raphael and Michelangelo had been in tears the whole way back, but Leonardo had been strangely unemotional. However, upon seeing his master's grief, Leo could no longer hold it in and began to sob loudly. Mike stared at him in disbelief. Never could he have imagined the day that Leo lost it; he was the most focused of all of them. Mike walked over to him and put his arm around Leo's shoulders.  
  
"Aw Leo.." Mike could feel tears welling up again in his own eyes, but he fought them back, "Don wouldn't have wanted us to get upset like this..though I think he'd be more upset than anyone if one of us had died."  
  
Leonardo looked at Mike in astonishment. Of all of them, Leo had expected Mike to react the worst. He and Don had always been close, and Mike was always the most forward with his emotions. Still, Leo took a deep breath and stopped sobbing. "You're right Mikey," Leo said, "You're absolutely right. It's hard, though. I can't believe he's gone."  
  
There was a long silence as each of them tried their best to deal with the tragedy. Raphael had moved to the training area and was punching on a sandbag. Leonardo sat down on the floor and began to do breathing exercises. He seemed determined not to begin sobbing again. Splinter was standing over Donatello's body with his head bowed, mediating away some of his tears. Michelangelo had retreated to Don's room, and after a while he returned with a worn-out notebook. He cleared his throat and everyone turned towards him.  
  
"Um, I'm not sure if this is the best thing to do right now," Michelangelo said, fidgeting slightly, "But I thought maybe we could read a few things from Don's journal. I always used to bug him about what was in it, but he always said it was a secret and I couldn't read it. I bothered him all the time about it, and one time he told me that it was a top secret government manifesto, and the only way I could read it was if he were dead.." Mike choked off a sob, "I knew he was joking, but.well, he had told me that when he kicked the bucket I could read page 64.I guess he thought I might sneak in and read it sometime..which I really thought about doing. But, today when I opened it to that page..I..well..I think I should read it."  
  
Leonardo looked like he was going to start sobbing again, and Raphael didn't look much better. However, Splinter began to smile slightly, and nodded toward Mike.  
  
"I think you should read it, Michelangelo," Splinter said, his voice quiet. He began to walk into the living room. "Come, we will speak of Donatello and honor his memory. And then," Splinter wiped a tear from his eye, "We will lay his body to rest."  
  
The three brothers followed Splinter into the living room and away from Donatello's body. They sat down, Raphael being the last to look away from Don, and Mike began to read.  
  
"I knew you would read this one day, Mikey, but don't worry, I'm not mad at you. I kinda wanted to you read it, actually. You see, most of what I write in this journal is just boring technical stuff, though sometimes I complain about you guys..not too much, just a little.  
  
"I told you to read this page because I wanted to make sure that if you did read this journal, you'd be able to find one of the parts where I said good things about you guys. I knew you'd read the page I told you to read, Mikey..you're a sneaky guy, but you have a great conscience too. You really care about how other people feel, and I think that's why I get along with you so well. Raph and Leo care about people too, but they care in their own ways. Raph.I love the guy. He's really thick-skinned, but he's a super nice guy underneath. Do you remember that Christmas when we were kids.the one where he gave me that teddy bear? Heh.I named it Newton. He got it for me because he'd thrown my old teddy bear into a river. He even apologized for doing it."  
  
Mike could see that Raph was visibly shaken. Tears were streaming down his eyes with renewed fervor. Michelangelo continued.  
  
"And Leo.he really cares about people..I'm always afraid that Leo will try to help everyone and get himself into trouble. He does things I could never do.he's such a strong person, and such a good ninja.  
  
"Then there's Master Splinter. What can I say about him really? He's our father, and the best father we could ever have. He's always let me be myself, and I can't thank him enough for it.  
  
"So, that's it Mikey. Now that you've read this, you better tell everyone else all the nice things I've said about them.especially if you read some of the bad things I've said."  
  
Michelangelo sighed. "That's the end of the entry. I don't really want to read the rest of it.at least, not right now."  
  
Leonardo wanted to feel awful, but instead he smiled.leave it to Don to make them feel better even when he wasn't there. "I'm glad you read that, Mikey. It really made me feel good. I'll miss Don, but I'll never forget how great he was."  
  
"Me neither," Mike said, and put the journal down.  
  
"My sons," Splinter said, "Thanks to Donatello, the healing process has already begun. I believe he would not want us to dwell on the past, but to live now, in the present. We will take his body and create a pyre, and free his soul to rest."  
  
Leonardo and Michelangelo nodded and stood up with Splinter to retrieve Donatello's body. Raphael stood up as well, but his face did not hold the look of peace that his brothers and master had found. His face was contorted in rage, sorrow and guilt.  
  
Leo and Mike bore Donatello's body out of the lair, followed closely by Splinter. Raphael trailed behind them. They walked through the sewers for some time, until they came to a drainage culvert. They walked out onto a beach, littered with trash and utterly deserted because of its dilapidated state. It was here that the three remaining turtles and their master built Donatello's funeral pyre.  
  
The flames burned long into the night, and when they finally went out, Splinter removed the ashes and cast them out into the sea. Then, the four made their way back home, each lost in thought, each trying to leave their grief behind them. It would take a long time for all of them, and it was only Raph who had found a temporary solution..his grief had been replaced by rage. 


	6. Ceremony

A/N: Gonna jump around with the timeline a little bit starting in the middle of this chapter, but it shouldn't be too bad. Time is the same in the two worlds, but for storytelling purposes I'll be skipping ahead at different times between Don and the guys.  
  
----  
  
Don wished he could do something about the applause, but it seemed that everyone in the cafe was intent upon showing their appreciation toward him.   
  
I haven't even done anything yet, he though dejectedly.   
  
Ssylvar seemed to be enjoying the attention they were receiving, and was waving enthusiastically to everyone and saying things like, 'You're so kind, thank you so much,' and 'We really appreciate the praise. We couldn't do anything without your support.'  
  
Donatello found it all rather revolting, and wished he could just crawl underneath the table until it was over. Thankfully, Ssylvar eventually seemed to tire of all the attention and dragged Don out of the cafe.  
  
"Great, isn't it?" Ssylvar said once they were outside.  
  
"Um...yeah," Don said, rubbing his arm where Ssylvar had grabbed him. Ssylvar began to walk, and Don could do nothing but follow him; he didn't feel comfortable walking around this place alone.  
  
"So...how do you make me into this Siyem thing?" Don asked.  
  
"There'll be a ceremony in about an hour, hopefully. Now that you've accepted the job, word will spread. Orgo's sending out message Xawks to all the other Reapers as we speak."  
  
"Orgo?"  
  
"The guy I talked to in the cafe."  
  
"Ah, right." Don didn't really want to think about that guy, "Ok...um..message Xawks?" Don felt like he was playing the repeat game.   
  
Ssylvar waved his hand dismissively, "Oh, those. Message Xawks are just little irritating birds that we use to, well, deliver messages. They can teleport to anywhere we ask them to go...though sometimes they can be stubborn. It may take a while for all of them to get their messages in about the ceremony."  
  
So," Don said, trying to decide what he was most curious about, "What will this ceremony be like?"  
  
Ssylvar grinned, "Can't tell you, top secret."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough," Ssylvar clapped Don on the shoulder and continued to lead him down the busy street. Don was left to his thoughts, which were becoming rather worrysome.  
  
----  
  
It had been three days since Donatello's death, and even though things were not getting back to normal in the lair, at least the crying had abated. Splinter did his best to continue with his normal routine. Michelangelo spent most of his time either reading Don's journal or writing in his own. Leonardo and Raphael spent most of their time training, though their reasons were entirely different. Leo trained to free his mind, Raph trained to fuel his anger.   
  
Raphael was determined to discover who had killed his brother, but he had no idea where to start. The only clues he did have were both vague and confusing. The bruises which had been around Don's throat were odd...Raph could have sworn he had seen claw marks. Stranger still had been the burn marks on Don's forearms and plastron. Raph had never seen anything like it, and that didn't help quell his anger.  
  
He'd also been back to the alley several times, but he hadn't found anything helpful there either. Raph had no leads, no ideas, and no patience. He wanted revenge, and he wanted it now. He briefly thought about blaming the Foot for the murder, but it just wasn't their style. As much as he wanted to blame it on them, there was no way they would have strangled Don to death. His death would have been by blade.  
  
Raphael shivered. No reason to think of other ways his brother could have died. One was bad enough.  
  
On the other side of the room Leonardo was waging a mental battle of his own. He was practicing his katas, but he couldn't get his mind to focus. It just kept going back to Don. Leonardo was starting to blame himself for his brother's death.  
  
Sure, he hadn't asked Don to fix that many things for him, but he hadn't stood up for him either. Leo didn't blame Raph for demanding things of Don...that's just how Raph was. He demanded things of everyone. Leo could have stood up for his passive brother, though. He could have talked him out of going out that night. But, he didn't. He just stayed in the other room and practiced.  
  
Leo sighed and started his kata over. He'd messed it up again.  
  
Michelangelo stopped writing and rubbed his face. He'd rewritten the same sentence ten times, but he just couldn't get it to sound right. He was becoming alarmingly anal in his writing, but Mike knew when enough was enough. His brain felt like someone had jabbed a hot poker into it. It was time for some coffee. He closed his journal and walked out of his bedroom. He passed by his brothers, taking a quick glance at each of them. Mike just didn't feel like practicing, though he knew that katas would probably clear his mind, as they were undoubtedly doing for Leo.  
  
Mike continued into the kitchen, where he was surprised to find Splinter at the table with coffee already made. Mike grabbed a mug out of the cupboard, sat down across from his master, and poured himself a cup. Mike took as much time as he could adding cream and sugar, afraid to break the silence in the room. Finally, Splinter spoke, his voice soft.  
  
"How are you, my son? We have not seen you much these last three days."  
  
Michelangelo stared at his mug for a few moments before speaking, his eyes still cast downward. "I've been better, master, but I'm beginning to heal, I guess." He paused to take a drink, "I've decided to write a book."  
  
Splinter raised his eyebrows, but said nothing. Michelangelo took another drink, still keeping his eyes down. "It's gonna be about Don's life...all the stuff he wrote about in his journal, and all the stuff I remember about him." Mike felt a tear roll down his cheek. Splinter's hand reached across the table and held onto his.  
  
"It is a noble venture, my son. You cry now, but remembering your brother will one day bring you and the rest of us great joy."  
  
Michelangelo looked up at his master. "It's hard, writing about him...especially since he's only been dead a few days. But...I feel like I need to start on this now...I...I don't know why. Though, I'm afraid that maybe I should just wait until the wound isn't so fresh.."  
  
Splinter shook his head, "I think not. This book is as much about you as it is about Donatello. It will help you."  
  
Michelangelo sighed and stared down at his coffee. Then, after a short pause, he chuckled. "You know, the hardest part has been trying to figure out what to do with all his technical stuff. I just don't get any of it." Mike looked up at his master, "I would hate to leave it out, but what am I supposed to say about 'marginal flux capacitational hoodwinkly googanation?'"  
  
Splinter laughed heartily, the first time such a sound had been heard in the lair for three days. "You see, Michelangelo, you are already beginning to heal."  
  
Mike smiled, "Yeah...I can't help it. I read that stuff and my brain just hears 'waw waw waw.'" He shrugged, "I'll do -something- with it. Maybe I'll make a technical section where I just quote it all. I know if I tried to figure it all out and write it myself I'd come up with an equation to destroy the world or something...Don would hate it if I did that."  
  
"I imagine he would," Splinter said, the smile on his face fading slightly. Splinter realized then how much healing -he- had yet to do, "Though, perhaps you should add both, your interpretation and the real thing. -That- would be a good read. Hilarious, at least."  
  
Mike frowned, but his eyes sparkled with mischief, "Hey! I'm not that bad! Some of that junk makes sense...like all the stuff about...um....yeah."  
  
Splinter shook his head and stood up. "You are an inspiration to us all, my son, but don't hold it in if you really are upset. Grief is a wound that festers if not treated properly."  
  
Mike nodded solemly, "I know, Master. I've never had any problem expressing my feelings."  
  
"No, you certainly haven't."  
  
----  
  
This is weird, I don't like this....weird weird weird weird....  
  
Donatello was standing inside of a large circle of bodies...creatures of so many shapes and sizes that Don felt disoriented and dizzy. This was to be his induction as Siyem, though as of yet nothing had actually happened. The most eventful moment so far was their arrival at this strange place. Ssylvar had grabbed Don's upper arm, and just as he had done when he'd brought Don to the Demon world, the lizard man waved his arm and the air in front of them had ripped apart. They had stepped through, Don a little reluctantly, and appeared in a vast, barren field, black rocks jutting up from the ground like so many crooked, rotten teeth.   
  
Now, they were waiting. The only things to look at were the grotesque figures sitting in the circle around him, and Donatello didn't really want to see them. He reluctantly noticed that most of them chose to have wings, and many, including the woman closest to him, looked to have been in a fight with a cloud of razor blades. Don thought back to Orgo and wondered if these people looked this way to scare the dead people they were escorting. He didn't like that thought...death was scary enough.   
  
Donatello could only assume that they were waiting for everyone to arrive. Affirming this notion was the grumble from Ssylvar that Shayl had better get her ass here.  
  
Don waited, trying not to fidget with so many eyes on him. Finally the group let out a collective exclamation of disgust as a small figure, surprisingly human in appearance and clad in black (just like everyone else, including Don) came rushing into the circle.  
  
Various scolding voices rang out:  
  
"It's about time you got here, Shayl!"  
  
"What happened, you get attacked by your Xawk?"  
  
"Fall in another lava pit, girl?"  
  
Don watched as the Reaper known as Shayl sat down gracefully, ignoring the snide comments of her peers with great dignity. The babble went on for a few minutes more, but then Ssylvar stood, his hands in the air for silence. Not one Reaper disobeyed.  
  
"My friends, I'm so glad to see you all...those of you who are not bound by Messenger duty should be honored to be here. It's not every day we get to induct a new Siyem."  
  
Don heard a few mumbles from the crowd, and he thought he saw the Reaper named Shayl roll her eyes. Don's heart began to pound with worry. Just then, Ssylvar grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. (Don was getting quite tired of Ssylvar grabbing him...he was forming a rather colorful bruise.)   
  
"Messengers of Death, behold your new leader!" Ssylvar called out. An eerie silence followed his proclamation, but Ssylvar didn't appear shaken or surprised. "Now," he bellowed, rattling Don's bones after the deep silence, "Let us begin!"  
  
Ssylvar released Don's arm and stepped back into the circle, sitting down cross-legged on the ground. Don remained standing; he wanted to run, but something....someONE was making him stay put. Donatello could feel the presence of a being...someone very powerful. The circle of Reapers began to chant.  
  
The chanting was low and discordant. Don felt his flesh crawl as the nonsense words seemed to climb over his body and enter his skin. It was almost as if he could see the syllables coming out of the Reapers mouths. Then, suddenly, Don realized that he COULD see them...vaguely, at least. The chanting continued, becoming louder and more urgent. Don felt his body convulse, and he fell to his knees, completely unable to control himself. He began to shake, his hands clawing for purchase on the hard ground. Don could feel something surging into him, something he could not perceive visually. There was pain as well, but mostly, Don could feel himself growing...powerful.  
  
Don became more coherent then, realizing what was happening to himself. He stood, controlling the shaking in his body. The chanting of the Reapers reached a fervent pitch, and Donatello became aware of the presence again, only this time, that someone was speaking to him.  
  
[Hello, Donatello.]  
  
"Who...what?" Don was no longer aware of the other Reapers. The could have been chanting limericks.  
  
[My name is Gaia. You were told about me, yes?]  
  
"Gaia...yes. Ssylvar told me about you."  
  
[It is good to finally speak to you, my son.]  
  
Don gave a shiver at her choice of words, "And you...ma'am." Don could feel something in his mind that could only be described as laughter.  
  
[You do not need to call me that. Just use my name.]  
  
"Ok...Gaia. Um...no problem." Donatello felt foolish.  
  
Gaia projected the feeling of a smiling face to Donatello. [I do apologize for causing you so much distress,] she said [but I'm afraid there are certain events I have little control over. I hope you haven't had too much trouble adjusting?]  
  
Don shook his head, belatedly wondering if Gaia could respond to nonverbals.  
  
[I see the world through your eyes, Donatello. Everything that you do, I do as well. Ssylvar has grabbed your arm again. The ceremony is over.]  
  
Don blinked and realized that, indeed he had been grabbed again. Frowning at the snake man, Don shook his arm free, realizing a moment later that he was actually strong enough to do it. Ssylvar's face flashed with a small frown, which immediately dissolved into a smile.  
  
"Everyone," he called, "We have succeeded! The Siyem has made contact with Gaia." There was another eerie silence. Don wondered if anyone actually cared. "You may return to your homes," Ssylvar said, "I will begin training the new Siyem in our ways."  
  
The sound of a throat being cleared pierced the silence. Ssylvar turned, the smile on his face turning into a frown when he saw that it was Shayl who wished to be heard. Don felt Gaia's presence stregnthen within him.  
  
"What do you want?" Ssylvar asked irritably.  
  
"I believe it is the job of the Wiyem to train him," she said, her voice smooth and quiet.  
  
"The Wiyem! Ha!" Ssylvar sneered, "He won't, and you know it!"  
  
Shayl shrugged, "Probably not. But, you must ask him, and if he refuses, the duty is mine."  
  
Ssylvar made a rude guesture, "I don't think so, weak one. This Siyem will be trained by me."  
  
"No, I won't." All eyes turned to Donatello, who blinked in mild alarm at the sudden scrutiny. He took a deep breath and spoke, "I won't be trained by you, Ssylvar. Gaia was kind enough to tell me," he peered around at everyone, "that you're trying to break the rules. I'm to be trained by the Wiyem, and if he won't do it, the task falls upon her shoulders," Don nodded toward Shayl. Don didn't know who or what the Wiyem was, but he knew that he didn't want Ssylvar training him.  
  
Ssylvar snarled and pointed a scaly finger at Shayl, "You're nothing but a foolish child. What could you possibly teach to the most powerful Demon in the world?"  
  
"Perhaps nothing, since we should ask the Wiyem about training him first." Shayl walked around the circle until she came to a tiny figure whom Donatello had not noticed before. "What say you, Wiyem?" Shayl knealt and spoke directly to the little man. Don could not see his face, which was concealed by a black cowl, "Will you train the Siyem?"  
  
There was silence as the little man appeared to think over the question. Finally, just as feet had begun shuffling amongst the other Reapers, he raised his little hand. Don could see that his skin was rusty brown, his fingers craggy and clawed.  
  
"My answer," croaked a voice from behind the hood, "Is no. I want nothing to do with you Messengers of Folly. Let Shayl's young mind deal with your filth."  
  
The little man waved his craggy hand angrily, ripped open the air, and was gone.  
  
"Well," Ssylvar said, clapping his hands together once, "Now that -that- unpleasantness is over with, Donatello and I shall take our leave, and the rest of you will return to your homes."  
  
"I'm not 'taking my leave' with -you- Ssylvar," Don said, irritation evident in his voice.  
  
Ssylvar frowned, "Don, listen. This is just a minor little rule. I could teach you so much more than that foolish girl over there."  
  
Don shook his head, "I don't care what you say. Rules are rules. Now, everyone go home. -Shayl- and I will take our leave of you." Don walked over to the girl, doing his best to walk with authority. He actually felt rather stupid.  
  
iIt's because Gaia is telling me what to say,/i he thought, knowing very well what he would have said without her help.  
  
Ssylvar sighed and ripped open a portal, "Very well, Don. You're the boss, after all. Just make sure to look me up if you have any questions." And before Donatello could respond, Ssylvar had stepped through his portal and was gone.  
  
The rest of the Reapers followed suit, and Don noticed that many of them had very sour looks on their faces. The knot in his stomach continued to increase.  
  
Soon, it was only Donatello and Shayl standing in the barren field. An awkward silence fell over them, and it was Shayl who was the first to speak.  
  
"Follow me," she said brusquely, opening a portal of her own. Don was pleased to note that she didn't grab his arm, instead guesturing him through the portal politely. Don nodded and stepped through, followed closely by Shayl. Don blinked as he stepped out of the portal...the light was much brighter, and he was temporarily blinded. When he regained his focus, he stared around himself in awe. They'd stepped into another field, though this one was far from barren. Rather, it was filled with knee-high grass, a golden sea rippling all the way to the horizon. Donatello stared, not noticing that his mouth was gaping.  
  
"You look like a fish," Shayl said, her voice dripping with irritation. Don gave a start and shut his mouth, feeling stupid.  
  
"Sorry," he said lamely, "This world is just so...amazing."  
  
Shayl made a face and began walking away from him, toward a quaint little cottage that Don had not noticed before. She didn't slow her pace, assuming he would follow if he wished. Don took one more look at the sea of grass and hurried after her.  
  
[Don't worry, Donatello. You'll learn to love this world.]  
  
Don was startled by the voice of Gaia, but her words were soothing, and he felt a bit of his worry melt away. Shayl reached the cottage and opened the door. Don arrived a moment later.  
  
"This is my home," she said, her voice flat, "I will teach you today how to teleport so I don't ever have to come and get you."  
  
Don nodded, but a question rankled in his mind. He was about to ask Shayl when Gaia's voice rang through his mind.  
  
[She wouldn't know the answer, I'm afraid. The reason I cannot train you is because, even though you are the most powerful Demon, my power is far greater. If I were to place knowledge into your mind, the migraine you would experience trying to retrieve it would be...unfathomable.]  
  
Don grimaced, and then nodded. He would endure this dour woman's training, then. She guestured for him to enter, and he obeyed. The house was simple, sparsely decorated, but pleasant. Don appreciated the organized feeling of the space, despite the mess that he was apt to make in the spaces he frequented. He felt a pang of homesickness as he thought about his workroom and his lair. Naturally, his family entered his thoughts shortly after.  
  
Shayl led him to a small table and pulled out a chair. Don sat, and Shayl followed suit by sitting across from him. She tapped on the table and two cups of coffee appeared. Don was proud of himself for not jumping out of his seat this time, but he still gave a bit of a start, and Shayl rolled her eyes.  
  
"You'd better get used to that kind of stuff," she said, "Or you'll never learn how to do things that are actually difficult."  
  
Donatello thought it a pity this girl was so sour. She was pretty, with long brown hair and a slender face, eyes almost black and skin pale and freckled. She was also apparently young, from what Ssylvar had said to her, though Don wasn't certain what 'young' meant in this place. He was probably considered very young himself, since he'd just died. He decided that perhaps she was sour because no one liked her...though he couldn't imagine why other than that she was sour...which didn't make sense at all. Don gave up on the notion, and wondered briefly if Gaia knew.  
  
[I know much about life and death, but little about people. It is you who must teach me about the people of our world, just as every Siyem before you.]  
  
iWell, that's a daunting task,/i Don thought.  
  
[Indeed it is, but I have great faith in you. I chose you for a reason.]  
  
Don felt a great sense of pride well up within him. It wasn't every day that the spirit of the world gave you a compliment. Suddenly, the sound of a throat clearing broke his reverie.  
  
"Oh...um. Sorry.." He said, fidgeting.  
  
"Your eyes were glazed over. Speaking to Gaia?"  
  
Donatello nodded. Shayl gave a dismissive swipe of her hand. "You'll be able to chat with her plenty after this lesson."  
  
Don wondered at this girl's gall. Weren't they all controlled by Gaia's power?  
  
[Yes, but she has a right to choose how she feels about me. I don't mind.]  
  
"So," Don said, "I was a little confused back there at that ceremony. What is the Wiyem, and why didn't he want to train me?"  
  
Shayl frowned, "You acted like you knew back there."  
  
"I was pretending. Gaia only told me that Ssylvar was trying to break the rules."  
  
"She should have just told you the rest," Shayl said, clearly irritated.  
  
[I don't want you to become too comfortable with my guidance, Donatello. I must not think for you.]  
  
Don thought about that for a moment. He wished Gaia would give him all the answers, but apparently he must learn for himself...a notion that Don was quite used to.  
  
"Well, she didn't," Don said, trying to sound irritated, "So...what is the Wiyem?"  
  
Shayl sighed in frustration, "The Wiyem is the weakest Reaper...the only other one chosen by Gaia...though no one knows why."  
  
"Oh..ok. Ssylvar told me about that."  
  
Shayl wrinkled her face as if she had smelled something bad, "Don't listen to him. He may be powerful, but he's a fool."  
  
Don chose not to comment on that. "So," he said, "Why didn't the Wiyem want to train me?"  
  
"His reasons are his own," Shayl said.  
  
"Ok..." Don could feel his frustration mounting, "So, why are you the one who is supposed to train me since he refused?"  
  
"Surely you can guess."  
  
"I'd rather not."  
  
"I'm the -next- weakest Reaper...one above the Wiyem, but barely more powerful than a regular Demon." She sounded disgusted.  
  
Don just shrugged, "I think I'd rather be in your position. I still can't hardly believe I'm the most powerful of all you people. It's just...not me."  
  
Shayl looked at him carefully for a moment, and then shook her head, "You Siyem are all alike....none of you want the power. Gaia is truly wise."  
  
Don didn't know how to comment on that, so he changed the subject. "So..." he said, "You're going to teach me how to rip a hole in reality? I'm rather curious about the technique behind such a feat...and perhaps even the science."  
  
Shayl shook her head, "There is no science. It's magic."  
  
Donatello frowned. "Magic? No...certainly not. Science may be advanced enough to appear as if it's magic, but only that."  
  
"It's magic, period. So get it out of your head that it isn't or you'll never learn it." Shayl was frowning deeply.  
  
iGaia?/i Don thought, iSurely this stuff isn't magic...?/i  
  
[It is to some, but it -could- be science if anyone cared to understand it.]  
  
Don thought that he would very much like to understand it. For now, however, he needed to simply learn how to do it.  
  
"Ok Shayl," he said, "Teach me this thing."  
  
Shayl nodded and proceeded to explain to Don the basics of teleporting. It all seemed rather simple: Think of a place, find its image within the essence of the Demon world (Don wasn't sure about that part), tear open Reality, and walk through. Shayl indicated that she wanted Don to try it, but to pick a place he had been to before. Don thought of the cafe. He could picture it in his mind, even down to the detail of the grotesque Orgo sitting at the bar. The next step was to tear open Reality. Here Don hesitated, but then he lifted his arm into the air as he had seen others do, and waved it about. Nothing happened.  
  
"I don't get it," he said dejectedly.  
  
"Did you think of a place and take it's image from the world?"  
  
"Um...I didn't really do that second part. The image was already in my mind."  
  
Shayl shook her head, "It doesn't work that way. You have to find the image from outside of yourself. That's what allows you to go places you've never been."  
  
Don sighed and tried again. He pictured the cafe again, but this time he tried to find the image from...somewhere else. Nothing. He just didn't get it. Shayl sighed and guestured for him to try again.  
  
This went on for two hours before Shayl called Don to a frustrated halt.  
  
"This is rediculous," She said angrily, "You should have been able to do this on the first try."  
  
"I'm sorry," Don said, frustration clearly evident in his voice, "I just don't get it. How about you teach me something else?"  
  
Shayl sighed. "Ok, fine...I don't know what, though. This is just about the easiest thing I could teach you aside from making coffee appear..."  
  
Don blinked and was silent for a few moments. He then shook his head and spoke, "Gaia says that you should teach me how to escort souls. She thinks I'll relate to that better....I guess because it just happened to me."  
  
Shayl sighed, "Fine, whatever. Seems like a swell idea to go do the hardest thing when you can't even do the easiest."  
  
Don shrugged, "Maybe she's right...who knows. Um...I have a question, though.."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Do I have to change my body and look all creepy like those other Reapers? I'm not keen on doing that."  
  
Donatello was surprised to see the hint of a smile on Shayl's face.  
  
"No," she said, "You don't have to do that. Almost everyone does, and I'm sure they all showed up like that to intimidate you," she shrugged, "I never chose a demon form. I think it's kind of stupid, actually."  
  
Don's face brightened, "Really? I hadn't planned on doing it, but I was starting to feel like -everybody- did."  
  
"Not everybody, but most. I -do- change my look around, my clothes mostly, depending on the kind of people I'm escorting."  
  
"The kind of people?"  
  
"Yeah. It's up to us to decide where to put the newly arrived dead. If the Messenger feels that the person lead a good life, he or she'll probably drop them off in Goodspeed. But, well...there's places to put bad people. Places that I'll have to show you if we do this lesson today."  
  
Don swallowed nervously, "You mean, I'm gonna have to decide if someone had been a good or a bad person? What right do -I- have to do that?"  
  
"A right given to you by Gaia. Don't worry, you'll know what each person deserves. You can't -help- but know." Shayl shook her head, "Come on...we might as well get on with this."  
  
Don nodded reluctantly. His gut was twisting again; how could he judge a person, especially when he didn't even know them? He was beginning to feel very sorry for himself. 


	7. Training Day

Disclaimer: I don't own the Ninja Turtles, and I'm not making any money off this story. I do own the Demon world, the residents of the Demon world, the Reapers and their respective identities, and the messsage Xawks.  
  
----  
  
Surprisingly, Donatello understood the difficult act of teleporting to Earth almost the moment it was taught to him. Shayl was shocked, and rather angry, considering the two hours of trouble they'd gone through trying to get him to teleport within the demon world.  
  
"I don't get it," she huffed as they walked down a sidewalk in Cleveland, "How can you teleport here, but not back in the Demon world?"  
  
Donatello shrugged as he watched all the people passing them as if they weren't there.  
  
"It's strange to walk down a sidewalk in broad daylight," Don said.  
  
"I forgot that you're in your original form. I get so used to people looking unhuman." Shayl wrinkled her nose as a boy ran underneath her legs. An adult was chasing him, and without even knowing he had done it, he sidestepped the pair of Reapers and continued on his way.  
  
"Yeah...I was trained as a ninja. Never in a million years would I have walked around out in the open," Don sighed, "Oh well. That part of my life is over."  
  
"It is...and now it's time to train you for the next part. Can you feel the imminence of death?"  
  
Don stopped walking and closed his eyes. Shayl had described the feeling to him, but it seemed as if he already knew what to look for.  
  
"I feel it," he said suddenly, "Follow me." Don waved his arm and tore open a portal...a portal that lead to another place on Earth. As he did this, time began to slow, until not a soul was moving, not a sound could be heard.  
  
Don looked around for a moment in wonder, and then jumped through his portal. Shayl followed.  
  
They emerged in the middle of a highway, but the cars were frozen in place; they wouldn't have hit the two Reapers even if they were moving. Don looked around and realized that he had misjudged the location; he wanted the southbound lanes, not the northbound. Shayl shot him a sour look, but he just shrugged and made another portal. They stepped through, and Don cringed at the scene before them. It had only happened moments before; a semi truck had lost control and jacknifed, taking out three cars before coming to a stop. Two of the cars were badly damaged, but the third was absolutely demolished. Don looked at the people in the other two cars, but he couldn't feel anything from them. Apparently they were going to live, at least for now. He walked over to the third car, but he couldn't see into it; if there was a body in there, it was smashed beyond recognition. Don sighed and looked around. There, kneeling next to the car was a young woman, she couldn't have been more than sixteen. She was sobbing. Don got the distinct feeling that she wouldn't see him until he wanted her to.  
  
Donatello sighed and closed his eyes. As he did so, a cacophony of images flashed into his mind, images of this girl's short life. She had been a girl scout, she loved horses, and she was supposed to turn seventeen tomorrow. She hadn't led a perfect life; she'd been very mean to her little brother for most of his life, and she had told more than a few lies. However, the pervailing feeling Don received was good. He looked over to Shayl, and she just shrugged.  
  
"Make your own judgements," she said.  
  
Don looked down at himself...he would surely frighten this girl. "How do I appear to her without freaking her out?" He asked.  
  
"Well...I'm not sure you can really help it, unless you choose a Demon form that's human."  
  
Donatello sighed. That really wasn't what he wanted to do. He would just have to rely on his diplomatic skills to get through this. He wasn't -that- scary...just, different. Straightening himself out and taking a deep breath, Don did what he thought was necessary to show himself to the girl; he looked over to Shayl and she nodded.  
  
Don walked around the car and stood in front of the sobbing girl, about six feet from her. He then knealt down slowly, hoping that she might not freak out as much if he wasn't standing over her.  
  
"Excuse me..." He asked, keeping his voice soft. The girl gave a start and looked up, her eyes wide with shock when she saw who was speaking to her. Don put up his hands in a defensive guesture.  
  
"I know I look strange," he said, "But I'm here to help you. The world has stopped, and I can explain why."  
  
She girl just stared at him. She appeared as if she wanted to run but couldn't bring her feet to move. Shayl had told Don about this phenomenon...most of the time people simply weren't able to run from their Reaper. The girl seemed to be trying to control her breathing, but she couldn't seem to help herself; she was panting hysterically. She appeared to be hyperventilating. Don grimaced. He felt truly sorry for her.  
  
"Please," he said, "I know how you feel, I really do. This very same thing happened to me just a few hours ago."  
  
At this statement, the girl blinked. Her breathing seemed to slow a bit, and she drew one of her sleeves across her eyes, wiping away the tears.  
  
"It...did?" she asked, her voice so quiet that Don barely heard her.  
  
"Yes," he said almost as quietly, "It did. I was scared too, but I had someone to help me out. Now I'm here to do the same thing for you. I know I look weird...turtles aren't supposed to talk or walk on two legs." Don sighed, "But...if you're willing, I can help you understand what's going on."  
  
The girl remained quiet for a long time, her only movement to wipe tears from her face. Don wished he had a handkerchief to give her. Finally, she took a deep breath and spoke, her voice a little stronger, but hoarse, "I want to know...what happened..." she said, her voice breaking with a sob, "I..I think that truck hit my car. I know I was in it...but now I'm not...and...and nothing's moving, just like you said." Her last words came out very fast, with a hysterical edge to them.  
  
Donatello nodded, "You're right, I'm afraid. That truck did hit your car, and you were inside it."  
  
The girl stared at him, and then, amazingly, she nodded. "So," she said, "I'm dead...right?"  
  
Donatello blinked. He really thought he'd have to be the one to tell her. He hadn't grasped reality very easily when it had happened to him. "Yes," he said, "I'm sorry, but it's true. I'm here to...to take you to where people go when they die."  
  
"I never thought it would be like this," the girl murmured, "I thought...well, I don't know what I thought." she sniffed loudly and dashed another tear from her face.  
  
"You're doing fine," Don said, smiling. "What's your name?"  
  
"Adrienne," the girl said.  
  
Don nodded, "A lovely name. My name's Don." He felt a touch on his shoulder; it was Shayl. The girl couldn't see her, so Don didn't turn around. Shayl began to whisper.  
  
"Once you take her back to the Demon world, you can't dally long. Tell her you can't stay, and tell her that you will leave her someplace where people will help her. I'll make the portal since you don't deal well with Demon world teleporting." She snorted and backed away.  
  
Don sighed, "Well Adrienne, we can't stay here forever. It's my job to take you to your new home. It's a real nice place, with lots of nice people." Don hesitated for a moment, "It's kind of weird, too, but I think you'll get used to it. I won't be able to stay with you long once we get there, but I'm going to take you to a place where people will help you."  
  
"You're going to leave me?" Adrienne asked, her voice frightened.  
  
"I'm sorry," Don said, "But I have to. Don't worry, though. There will be plenty of nice people there to help you. And.." Don paused for a moment and took a deep breath, "You won't be leaving your loved ones behind forever. Everyone who dies goes where I'm taking you."  
  
The girl seemed to brighten, so Don smiled at her and stood up. He held out his hand to her, and a portal opened up in front of him, courtesy of Shayl. The girl gasped and seemed reluctant to move, but after a moment, she took Don's hand and followed him through the portal.  
  
----  
  
Donatello sighed and slumped down into an easy chair in Shayl's living room. She glared at him for a moment and then sat down on the couch.  
  
"You can't be tired," she said, "That was only -one- soul."  
  
Don frowned at Shayl, "I'm not physically tired, but that took a lot out of me mentally. I'm not used to dealing with strangers, especially frightened teenagers."  
  
"You're gonna have to get used to it,"  
  
"I know, I know," Don said, frustration evident in his voice. He didn't like the side of him this woman brought out, "It's just gonna take some time, ok? A lot of crap has happened to me today, and you people expect me to just deal with it and move on. Well, news flash, my life has been completely upheaved...I'm not capable of just accepting that!" Don was shocked at the anger in his voice. He hadn't meant to yell, but he'd had just about enough.  
  
Shayl wrinkled her nose and said nothing for several minutes. Finally, she spoke, "I'll never understand why Gaia chooses such weak-minded people to be Siyem," she sighed, "Whatever. That's enough for today. I'll spend the rest of the week teaching you easy stuff. Hopefully it won't take you more than a day to learn how to teleport." Her voice made it sound like she thought it would.  
  
"We're not going to do any more escorts?" Don asked.  
  
"No, I don't think so. Maybe in a few days, but I really think you should learn how to do stuff -here- before you start messing around on Earth."  
  
"But Gaia said..."  
  
"Gaia can bite me. We'll do a few more escorts later in the week, when -I- feel like you're ready."  
  
Donatello nodded, but he was frowning intently. Shayl's disdain for Gaia gave him a sick feeling in his stomach. It felt to him like he was speaking to an ungrateful child, hateful of their parents for all the wrong reasons. He certainly didn't know that much about Gaia, but he couldn't help but like her. Don, now that he was connected to her, felt whole. He'd never realized before that he hadn't felt whole, but now...  
  
"So, where am I supposed to live?" Don asked, standing up from the easy chair.  
  
Shayl shrugged. "Hell if I know."  
  
"That's not very helpful," Don said, crossing his arms.  
  
Shayl sighed, "Whatever. I'll drop you off in Bonang. You can find a home there."  
  
"I don't even know where to look!" Don wasn't as shocked this time by the anger in his voice.  
  
"I don't give a damn."  
  
"Look, how are you supposed to find me tomorrow if you just dump me off in Bonang without a home?"  
  
"Just send a message Xawk to me."  
  
Don ground his teeth, "I don't -have- one!"  
  
"Yes, you do. Snap your fingers and say 'Xawk.'" Shayl rolled her eyes. Don wondered how on earth she expected him to already know that. Sighing, he did as she said. There was a small pop, and there fluttering in front of Don's face was a....Xawk. Don stepped back in alarm. This -thing- was not a bird. It was more like a ferret with wings, except it's fur was bright red and the wings were comprised of bony fingers connected by a thin membrane. This little Xawk's wings were quite tattered, and its fur was patchy in many places, as if it had been in numerous fights.  
  
"Um...this is my Xawk?" Don asked.  
  
"Yes. I beleive his name is Rudy."  
  
"Rudy. How....nice." Don shook his head. "Ok...c'mere Rudy." Don held out his arm. Maybe the little ferret-thing wouldn't seem so creepy if he held it for a while.  
  
The Xawk fluttered a few feet from Don, staring at him apprehensively for a moment. Then, with a little sqawk, it flew over to him and settled on his forearm. Don could feel tiny claws clutching his flesh, but they didn't break the skin. It would take more than Xawk claws to pierce the flesh of the Siyem.  
  
"Ew!" Shayl exclaimed, "Nobody -holds- those revolting things!"  
  
Don shrugged, "He's not that bad...kind of a mix between a ferret and a bat...though I wonder where the red fur comes from.." Don scratched his head.  
  
Shayl made a disgusted noise, "Yuck. You're weird, Siyem. Come on, we're going to Bonang." with that she turned away from him, tore open a portal, and walked through. Don had to hurry to get through it before it closed, Rudy squawking in alarm as he was thrown off balance for a moment.  
  
----  
  
Don spent an hour in search of a place called 'Harlequin Homes.' He'd asked the first person he'd seen on the street where he could get a place to live, but they had failed to give him directions. Don wondered why for a moment, and then noticed a giant billboard of himself, proclaiming him as the new Siyem. Apparently the woman he'd spoken to assumed he could just teleport there.  
  
Don gave a frustrated sigh, which Rudy echoed. The little creature had moved up to Don's shoulder, and Don had noticed more than a few people staring at it in disgust. It certainly wasn't the prettiest creature in the world, but thus far it had been nicer to him than anyone else.  
  
Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity of looking, Don found Harlequin Homes. He sighed with relief and walked through the door. Inside there was nothing but a small desk, covered with hundreds of tiny model houses. No one was about, so Don waited. After a few minutes, he began to call out. HOwever, he realized that the only door to this place was the one he had come through. Sighing he turned to leave.  
  
Suddenly, the very small sound of a throat clearing reached Don's ears. He turned around swiftly, but he couldn't see anyone. Then, he heard a voice.  
  
"Down here, moron."  
  
Don jumped and looked around the room. Then his eyes swung across the desk, and he caught a glimpse of a very tiny little man, standing on the stoop of one of the model houses. Rudy gave an excited squeal and dove from Don's shoulder, right toward the little man. The man called out in alarm and ran back into his house. Don grabbed for the Xawk, catching it by the tail and dragging it away from the desk. Rudy began to protest loudly, but Don placed his hand over his muzzle, looked him directly in the eyes, and ordered him to leave. Rudy let out a piteous cry and began to wriggle. Don released him, and he was gone.  
  
Don rubbed his face and turned back to the desk, "Um...it's ok. The Xawk's gone."  
  
"Are you sure?" The little voice was muffled.  
  
"Yes. I told it to leave. It won't come back unless I call it,"  
  
"It'd better not!" The little man yelled, stomping back out onto his stoop, "How dare you bring that vile thing into here! Why, I've got a mind to teach you a les....oh...oh, hello Mr. Siyem...sir..." The little man began to stammer incoherently.  
  
Don grimaced, "Please don't," he said, "I'm sorry I brought him in here...I didn't know that you were...were..."  
  
"It's ok, Mr. Siyem. If you w-want to have that little fellow eat me, that's f-fine. You can do whatever you want. I don't c-care." The little man had prostrated himself onto the desk.  
  
"Oh..please don't do that. Get up." Don looked like he was going to throw up. The little man stood up hastily, though his face showed a great deal of fear.  
  
"What can I d-do for you...Mr. Siyem, sir?"  
  
"Call me Donatello, please," Don said, "I just need a home...somebody told me to come here."  
  
The little man nodded, bobbing up and down as he did so. "Yes...yes I can give you a home. Which one would you like? Pick anything!"  
  
"Um...how much do they cost? I don't have any money.." Don felt foolish.  
  
"Money? Forgive me, sir...um..Donatello, but you don't need money. Nobody does!"  
  
"No money? You just do this all for nothing?" Don was shocked.  
  
"Well, no sir...Donatello. I do this because everybody does something, and since everybody does something, everything gets done, and everything can be free!"  
  
"But, who picks up the trash?"  
  
"Um...nobody. The trash just disappears. And....nobody goes to the bathroom, so we don't have that problem...oh...I'm sorry...I'm sure you knew that, sir. I shouldn't be trying to tell you things when of course you know them. You're the Siyem. Oh sir, please forgive me!" The man prostrated himself on the desk again.  
  
Donatello groaned. "It's ok...get up, please. I know you think I must know everything because I'm the Siyem, but I really don't know anything! I've only just arrived in this stupid world, and nobody has helped me at all! Seriously, anything you tell me will be of great help."  
  
The little man stood up, surprise evident on his face. "How can the Siyem not know anything?" he asked.  
  
"I'm new. I still have to learn everything. The Siyem doesn't know everything the instant he or she is created."  
  
"Really? Nobody ever told me that. I bet nobody knows that!" The little man was clearly dumbfounded.  
  
"Well, tell everybody, I don't care." Don rubbed his face, "Do you think you could get me a home? I'm really tired and I'm sick of wandering around this city....I still haven't figured out why demons get tired. I'm never hungry or thirsty, but I know that I can eat and drink...and how can we not go to the bathroom if we eat and drink? It doesn't make any sense!"  
  
The little man was staring at Donatello, his mouth gaping. "You really -don't- know, do you?" He asked.  
  
"No, I don't. I don't know a damn thing."  
  
The little man seemed almost relieved, "Well...I can help you, sir. Yes I can. First of all. Let's get you a house. That's really all I can help you with. I dunno why people can eat but don't have to, and I dunno why we get tired. We just do...that's they way it is. But anyway! Pick out a house...any one you like!" The little man waved his hand, apparently indicating the houses on the desk. Don wondered how that would help him, but he'd learned not to assume things in this place. He carefully perused the houses, until he came to a small one, apparently made of brick, and stone chimney jutting out of the peaked roof.  
  
"Oh, you like that one?" The man asked, his little face crinkled into a smile, "That's a very nice house. Where would you like it to be located?"  
  
Don blinked. "Um...I don't know. I've only been a few places. This city, the field where I was inducted, and this enormous grassy plain."  
  
"Ah! The grass sea. Wonderful place. Would you like to live there?"  
  
Don shrugged. "I guess so. It was definitely pretty. Just don't put me too close to anybody else." Don hoped he would figure out teleporting soon...living out in the middle of a field wasn't a good way to get supplies.  
  
"No problem," the little man said and snapped his fingers. "Your house is created. Enjoy!"  
  
Don hesitated for a moment, and then reluctantly spoke, "Um...I was wondering if you might...create a portal to it? I'm not real good at that."  
  
The little man looked at Don as if he were joking. Then, after several moments, he realized that he was not. "You...you can't do it?" The little man seemed to be fighting an inner battle, "..I..but, you're the Siyem!"  
  
Don sagged his shoulders, "I know. It was the first thing I was taught today, but for some reason I've been having problems with it. I can teleport to Earth just fine," Don said, somewhat defensively.  
  
The little man shook his head, "So hard to beleive. Sir, I like you. I think you're just what we need around here. I don't think there's a Reaper in the world who'd admit something like that...wow..." The little man shook his head again. Apparently Don's admission had completely erased this man's fears of speaking his mind.  
  
"Well, it's no problem making a portal for you," he said, motioning Don closer, "But I hope you figure it out soon, cause you're in the middle of nowhere out there. The house'll have all the basic furnishings, but if there's anything you need, you'll have to come to a city." The little man shrugged and waved his hand. A portal opened next to Don.  
  
"Thank you," Don said, "Feel free to tell people what I'm like. I'm getting tired of people treating me like I'm the best thing ever." Don smiled and stepped through the portal.   
  
After he was gone, the little man stood for several minutes, shaking his head in disbelief. Then, he turned on his heel and headed back into his little house.  
  
"Loretta!" he called, "You'll never beleive what just happened to me!" 


	8. Wanderings

Disclaimer: I don't own the Ninja Turtles, and I'm not making any money off of this fic. I do own the Demon world, it's residents, the Reapers, and their respective identities.  
  
----  
  
"Wait a sec...that doesn't make sense..." Don shook his head, wondering why he bothered arguing anymore.  
  
"It doesn't matter if it makes sense....that's just the way it is."  
  
"But, why on earth would Reapers be able to kill each other if they can't kill regular demons? Why would Reapers -want- to kill each other?"  
  
Shayl sighed. Donatello never stopped asking questions, and after four days she was at her wit's end. If only he would learn -faster-...at the rate they were going, she'd be training him for MONTHS.  
  
"Look, who cares? Let's just get back to the lesson." Shayl pictured her fist smashing into Don's face, for all the good it would do.  
  
"No...why can't you just answer my questions when I ask them? What reason would the Reapers have to kill each other?"  
  
Shayl shook her head. "I don't -know,- ok? Just drop it."  
  
Don sighed and rested his chin on his fist. He was -trying- to learn, but every time he had a question, Shayl either didn't know, or didn't think he needed to know.  
  
**How am I supposed to learn anything if I can't ask questions?** he thought angrily.  
  
[I'm sorry you're so frustrated, Donatello. Most people aren't as curious as you are.]  
  
Donatello frowned. Gaia wasn't much help either, despite the good feeling he got every time he spoke to her.  
  
"Are you even listening?" Shayl's voice broke through Don's thoughts. He was beginning to rather dislike the bitter tone she used with him all the time.  
  
"Sorry," Don said, "What were you saying?"  
  
Shayl sighed and repeated the lesson. Don did his best to focus, knowing that the sooner he learned this stuff, the sooner he could get away from Shayl.  
  
----  
  
"I...can't...take....it....any....more!" Raphael was yelling, punctuating each word with a blow to a dilapidated sandbag.  
  
"Raph..." Mike said, watching Raphael's tirade from the other side of the room.  
  
"Shut UP Mike. I don't want to hear it." Raph continued to pummel the sandbag, oblivious to its imminent destruction.  
  
"I'm just trying to help, Raph. I know it's only been four days since....y'know...but maybe if you talked about it with me or Master Splinter."  
  
Raphael ceased punching and whirled around. "You don't know what I need to do, Mike, so forget it!" Raph turned back to the punching bag and appeared to realize that it was in a sorry state. He sneered at it and marched toward the door. Mike tried to get in his way, but Raph barreled right past him.  
  
"Wait! Raph! Where are you going?"  
  
"None of your damn business!" Raph snarled and stormed out of the training room, past Leo and Splinter and out of the lair. Mike sighed and walked into the living room. Leonardo was sitting on the couch watching the news, and Splinter was sitting in the corner reading a magazine. Mike sighed and plopped down in an easy chair.  
  
"That wasn't good," Leo said, his voice flat. Mike shook his head.  
  
"No...I was just trying to help him!" Mike said dejectedly, "I know we all have to deal with this our own way, but he's...Raph's just...."  
  
"A hothead," Leo finished. "I know. He's been nothing but furious ever since..." Leo sighed. They all had a hard time talking about it. Leo stood up. "I'll go after him. He needs to blow off some steam, but I'd rather he did it here."  
  
Mike put up a hand to forestall Leo, but he had turned his back and was out of the lair before Mike could protest. Frowning, he picked up the TV remote.  
  
"I don't think that's why Leo wanted to go after him," Mike said, changing the channel.  
  
"Nor do I," Splinter said, "He feels guilty about what happened to Donatello."  
  
Mike shook his head, "I thought so. I hope they don't get into any trouble out there."  
  
----  
  
Raphael bounded from rooftop to rooftop with very little care for where he landed. He still made sure he wasn't seen; he was angry, but he would never stop being a ninja. He'd noticed about an hour earlier that Leo was following him, and he had taken pains to give him the slip. He wasn't positive he'd lost him, but he hadn't seen or heard anything in a while, so that was a good sign.  
  
He continued to bound recklessly along, his mind awash with frustrations and anger. WHY couldn't he figure out who killed Don? If only he could get some revenge, maybe he would feel better!  
  
Raph suppressed a growl and leapt to the roof of a very large warehouse. He was about to bound across it when a dark figure stepped from the shadow of an air vent. Raph skidded to a stop; he was really angry now, but mostly at himself. He really thought he'd lost Leo back there.  
  
Suddenly, the figure stepped closer and Raph realized that it was NOT Leo. Raph pulled out his sais. "Hold it pal," he said, "Don't come any closer."  
  
The figure stopped and Raph frowned. Usually telling them to stop didn't work, and Raph was itching for a fight. Still, he wasn't going to provoke one.  
  
"Ok, now turn around and leave," he said.  
  
"No, I need to talk to you," the figure said, his voice raspy.  
  
"Whatever. Get outta here!" Maybe Raph would get his fight after all.  
  
"Please," the figure said, "It's important. It's about your deceased brother."  
  
Raphael felt his pulse quicken. He gripped his sais tighter and lowered his crouch. This guy was SO dead....  
  
The dark figure put up two hands defensively. Raph could see that his hands were strange....black. "Wait," the figure said, "I know you're alarmed, but I'm here to help. I didn't kill your brother, but I know who did."  
  
Raph prepared himself to spring, but hesistated. Common sense told him to attack this guy, gut him, obliterate him for killing Donatello...but...what if he didn't do it, and Raph lost his only lead? Muttering obscenities, Raph lowered his sais, but he kept his crouch defensive.  
  
"Explain yourself," Raph growled. He could see the figure's head bob from underneath a hood.  
  
"I will. I'm glad you didn't attack me, because I really want to help you. As I said, I know who murdered your brother, and I can help you exact your revenge."  
  
Raph didn't appear satisfied. "Go on," he said irritably. The head bobbed again.  
  
"First of all, I must warn you that the things I am going to show and explain to you are rather weird." the figure pulled down his hood, revealing a black, serpentine face, eyes glowing a sickly green and large spines coming up from his neck. Raphael backed up involuntarily.  
  
"You're a freak!" he exclaimed, lifting his sais once again. The snake man bowed his head.  
  
"I know I look strange, but surely not that strange to someone like you," he guestured a scaly hand toward Raph, "But how I look is only part of the story. You see, I look this way because I'm a Demon...a creature from the world of the dead."  
  
Raphael stared at the snake man for a moment, and then made a face. "Whatever. You're full of crap."  
  
The snake man shook his head, "Please, I beg you to listen. I can take you to my world and show you that it exists. I can also take you to your lost brother, though I'm afraid you won't like what you see."  
  
Raph blinked, "You can take me to Don? Well, not that I believe any of this junk, but let's go anyway, eh?" **And then, when I find out first hand that you're full of crap, I can kill you,** Raph thought. He couldn't bring himself to kill the guy until he was convinced that he'd been the one to kill Don.  
  
The snake man smiled, his tongue flickering in and out. "My name is Ssylvar," he said, "I must know your name before I take you to my world. It's part of the spell I must cast."  
  
Raph frowned, "Raphael," he said, snorting at the word 'spell.' Ssylvar grinned again and waved his hand about, drawing a shape in the air. Raph watched with limited interest until the air began to glow a bright blue. He gaped as a shape appeared in the air, burning with blue fire. It flew toward him, and before he could leap out of the way, it smacked into his right arm. He called out angrily, but the mark didn't burn, and the light extinguished a moment later. Raph noticed that he had a scar on his upper arm that matched the shape.  
  
"What the HELL was that?!" he hollered, glaring at Ssylvar.  
  
"Don't worry, it's just something I needed to do to get you into the Demon world. It doesn't hurt, does it?"  
  
"No," Raph said sullenly.  
  
"Good, now, if you'll just wait one moment." Ssylvar waved his hand in the air, and to Raph's amazement, Reality ripped in half. Ssylvar guestured for Raph to walk through. He hesitated for a moment, and then, with his fists clenched, he walked through the portal.  
  
----  
  
Leo was mad at himself. He'd only been tracking Raph for thirty minutes before he'd lost him. He thought he'd been quiet enough to escape his brother's notice, but Raph was an excellent ninja, and Leo hadn't been careful enough.  
  
Cursing, he stopped on the roof of a movie theater to think. He had a few guesses as to where Raph was headed, but he couldn't be sure. Raph was so angry, he might just careen all over the city for the rest of the night.  
  
Leo sighed and started to leave the roof when something suddenly blocked his path. He stumbled backward in surprise, but immediately had his katanas out and ready. The black shape didn't move, and Leo began to think he'd just run into a wall or something. Then, several moments later, the rustle of fabric could be heard, and the dark shape took a step back from Leo.  
  
"Who's there?" Leo asked, his voice tense.  
  
"Don't be afraid," a low voice said. It rattled like dry parchment.  
  
"Who's there?" Leo repeated, raising his katanas. He could see two pale white hands move up to a hood covering the figure's face. Slowly, they pulled the hood down, revealing the face of a very old, bald and wrinkled man.  
  
"My name is Orgo," the man said, "I mean you no harm. I want to help you."  
  
Leo shook his head, "I don't need any help. If you'll excuse me, I have to go." Leo turned to leave, but before he could, the old man spoke.  
  
"I know about your dead brother. I know who killed him." The man wheezed after he had finished speaking, his cough rattling worse than his voice had.  
  
Leo stared at the old man. How could he have known about Don? "What is this?" Leo asked, louder than he had meant to.  
  
"I'm sorry. I know this is alarming to you. I only assume that he was your brother. You see, I knew that he had been killed, and since he was a giant turtle, and you are as well..." the man shrugged.  
  
Leo shook his head, disbelief evident on his face, "You're correct, he was my brother...but how am I supposed to know that -you- didn't kill him?"  
  
The old man smiled ironically, "Yes, that possibility occured to me. Honestly, it will be hard for me to convince you that I am telling the truth. Though, if you're willing to listen, I'll explain everything to you. Be warned, it's rather strange."  
  
Leo frowned, but nodded.  
  
"Great," the man said, "Now, you must understand that what I am going to tell you will make little sense until I actually show it to you," he hesitated, appearing to collect his thoughts, "First of all...I may look human to you, but I'm not. I'm actually a Demon."  
  
Leo made a face, but said nothing, so Orgo continued.  
  
"I'm from another world. A place where people go when they die, including your brother. I can take you to him, but you won't like what you see."  
  
"What?" Leo said, angry, "I said I'd listen, but this is nonsense."  
  
The old man put up his hands. "I know it's weird, but if you'll allow me to show you, I think you'll be convinced."  
  
Leo shook his head. Nonsense. Still, it couldn't hurt to humor the old guy. "Whatever," he said, putting his swords away.   
  
The old man smiled, "I'll need to know your name to make this work. Mine's Orgo."  
  
Leo shrugged, "My name is Leonardo."  
  
Orgo nodded and waved his hand, drawing a shape in the air. To Leo's amazement, the air began to glow blue, the shape appearing to burn in mid air. Then, it flew at him and smacked into his shoulder, leaving a scar behind.  
  
"Woah!" Leo yelled, "What was THAT?"  
  
"Nothing much...just something I needed to do in order to take you to the Demon world. Now, off we go." Orgo waved his hand and tore open a portal in Reality. Leo gaped at it...he wasn't so skeptical anymore.   
  
"Go on," Orgo said, smiling. Leo hesitated, and then, head high, he walked through, hoping to god he wasn't walking into some kind of trap.  
  
**It's for Don,** he thought, **You -owe- him.**  
  
----  
  
"Ok Shayl, I've had it with this stuff. Can we please do something else?" Don rubbed his face tiredly.  
  
"No. You're -going- to learn this."  
  
[Tell her that I said you need to do something else. More escorts, I think.]  
  
Don sighed with relief. "Gaia says that I need to do more escorts."  
  
Shayl frowned and appeared as though she was going to protest. Then, muttering, she stood up.  
  
"Fine," she said, "After all, -I- don't know what you need to learn. There's no reason at all for me to be training you!"  
  
Don chose not to honor that with a response.  
  
"Come on then," Shayl said after a long pause, "Make a portal."  
  
Don nodded and waved his arm, effortlessly creating a portal to Earth and stepping through. Shayl shook her head and followed. Don had only managed to create one portal in the demon world after four days of practice, but he could go anywhere on Earth without a problem.  
  
They stepped out into a downpour. Don stared about in fascination; every raindrop was frozen in place, and as he walked they seemed to spread apart to allow him passage, like a great, shimmering curtain.  
  
"Neat," Don said and earned a glare from Shayl.  
  
"Our guy's over there," he said and walked away from her. She glowered and followed after him. Don ignored her as he came upon the scene. On the ground was a body, riddled with bullet holes. Standing over the body was a very angry old woman, holding a sawed-off shotgun. Don grimaced and looked around. He didn't see the soul he was supposed to escort anywhere. Scratching his head, Don closed his eyes and was bombarded with images; images of rape, murder, lies, hatred...everything Don had ever come to disagree with in life. He stepped back a few paces involuntarily, opening his eyes with a shudder. He hadn't seen -anything- good.  
  
"This is...really bad," Don said. He hadn't been looking forward to something like this.  
  
"You'll probably have to force him to go...are you gonna take him to the pits?"  
  
Don shuddered. He didn't want to go back there. Shayl had warned him, but the sound of moaning from so many millions of voices had kept him up all night. The heat had had been unbearable as well...Don wasn't certain he could take anyone to that place, no matter how bad they are.  
  
[You don't have to, Donatello, but do you really want someone who is truly awful wandering around killing Demons, collecting power from their souls?]  
  
Don shuddered again. No, he did not want that to happen. He turned to Shayl.  
  
"Ok, I want to really scare this guy. What should I do?"  
  
Shayl smirked. "Well, pull up your hood, first of all, and I would suggest giving yourself a big scary weapon...and make your cloak all tattered."  
  
Don nodded. He pulled up his hood, the easy part, and then closed his eyes. He thought about what he wanted his robe to look like, and he thought about having a giant sword, curved and notched, strapped to his back. When he opened his eyes, he was amazed to find that all had come true.  
  
"Wow! Do I look scary?"  
  
Shayl rolled her eyes, "Sure. Now, go find your soul before he gets away. You may have to physically drag him through the portal, but there's nothing wrong with that."  
  
Don nodded and trotted away. He wasn't sure how he was going to find his guy, but something seemed to be directing him. After only a few minutes of running he nearly barreled into a man, the very man who'd been laying dead on the ground.  
  
"No! Stay away!" the man yelled. He tried to run, but now that he had seen Don, he appeared frozen in place.  
  
"It's time to go," Don said, trying to sound scary. He felt stupid.  
  
"NO! Leave me alone!" The man's last words came out as a shriek. Don lunged forward and grabbed the man's upper arm. Don was reminded of Ssylvar, and it irritated him. He shook his head and began to drag the man along. Shortly a portal opened in front of him, provided by Shayl, and he dragged the hapless man through.  
  
They stepped out into the Plains of Ur'lon. The man gasped in alarm, but Don ignored him. He dragged him for about 100 yards, until they came to a bubbling pit. A small, rabbit-like Demon greeted them.  
  
"Ah...one for the pits..." he said, rubbing his paws together.  
  
Don frowned. He really REALLY hated doing this. "Yes, take him." Don thrust the poor man toward the rabbit, who grabbed onto him, gave a heave, and threw the man into the bubbling pit. The man screamed in agony, and Don balled his fists.  
  
"Out of here, NOW!" he commanded to Shayl, who complied instantly.  
  
Don dove through the portal, fell to his knees, and began to vomit. Shayl cursed; she'd brought them back right in the middle of her living room. She ran into the kitchen, grabbed a bowl, ran back in and tossed it to Don. He took it thankfully, and Shayl left the room, barely resisting the urge to pull out her hair.  
  
----  
  
A/N: I would like to thank all of you who have reviewed this story. It's been great to hear from people. Writing isn't really my primary form of expression, but you've all made it very, very enjoyable. Thank you!  
  
Also, this is the second update of this chapter. I noticed a minor error regarding Leo and ORgo, and went ahead and fixed it. Not a big deal, but it would have made me nuts. 


	9. Plots and Problems

Disclaimer: I do not own the ninja turtles. I do own the demon world, it's inhabitants, the Reapers and their respective identities, and the Xawks.  
  
----  
  
Raph's mind was boggled. This place was...incredible. Even though he was certain this lizard man was full of crap, he was starting to change his mind. He'd seen so many different 'Demons,' and it was clear that this was a place that did not exist on Earth. He was a bit irritated, because they had spent a great deal of time doing absolutely nothing. Then, suddenly, a strange creature, some kind of ferret with wings, popped out of nowhere. Raph stared at it in amazement. It -did- look like a ferret, but it had blue fur...and WINGS. The little creature squawked and screeched, and Ssylvar cocked his head as if he were able to understand it. He then nodded and murmured something. Raph strained his ears to hear, but he could only make out, "Go" and "Watch".  
  
The weird little creature screeched and disappeared. Ssylvar nodded and stood up.  
  
"We can go see the one impersonating your brother now. My little message Xawk has managed to locate him, as well as figure out where he will be shortly."  
  
"What? That little -thing- told you that?" Raph rolled his eyes.  
  
"Yes...Xawks are remarkable creatures. They can track down any Demon, though sometimes it takes them a while." Ssylvar smiled, "Come, we have no time to waste. Remember, you must not allow yourself to be seen."  
  
Raph scowled, but nodded. Ssylvar had warned him before not to show himself. Apparently the Don he was going to see was not actually his brother, but a Demon impersonating him. Raph had rightfully questioned this, but Ssylvar had assured him that once he saw this 'Donatello' he would realize that it was not his real brother. Raph had just shrugged. He'd stay out of sight for a little while, at least.  
  
Ssylvar waved his hand and tore open a portal. Raph couldn't figure this out; it truly puzzled him just like everything else in this place. Ssylvar stepped through first and Raph followed. They stepped out onto a sparse rocky plain, though there was a very large boulder in front of them. Raph also noticed that the temperature was VERY hot. He could hear the sound of something bubbling and boiling from beyond the rock, as well as anguished screams and moans. Ssylvar motioned for Raph to look around the rock, and he did, his face still in a scowl.  
  
At first Raph did not see anything but boiling pits of lava. He then realized that there were people writhing in the lava. Raph shuddered. It was a very gruesome sight indeed. None of them were dead, but many of them were clearly on fire and in great agony. Then, Raph noticed a bit of movement a small distance away from the pits. The air tore open in another portal, and through it came three figures, two walking, and one man being dragged. The man was screaming. Raph squinted, unable to see faces behind the black robes. Then, the one who was dragging the man turned slightly, and Raph could see him...it was Don! Raph gasped and wanted to jump out, but Ssylvar's hand on his shoulder stopped him. Raph stared in amazement as Don dragged the screaming man towards the pits. He was met by a demon that looked like a rabbit.  
  
"Ah...one for the pits..." the rabbit man said.  
  
"Yes, take him," Don said, and to Raph's amazement, Don thrust the poor screaming man to the rabbit Demon. Then, in a voice very unlike the passive turtle, Don bellowed, "Out of here, NOW!"  
  
The other figure in black tore open a portal and they both exited. Raph gaped in horror as the rabbit threw the screaming man into the pits. He immediately caught fire, the lava clinging to his skin and blistering it with the intense heat.  
  
"I've seen enough!" Raph exclaimed.  
  
Ssylvar nodded and made a portal.   
  
"Go on through. It will take you to my home," Ssylvar said, "I have a short errand I need to run that you will find very boring."  
  
Raph nodded frantically, "Whatever, I'm leaving." As he exited, Raph took one last look at the pits. There was no way Donatello would throw a helpless man into those horrible things...it just wasn't possible. Not Don.  
  
After Raphael was gone, Ssylvar walked out from behind the rock. The rabbit man gave a squeak and prostrated himself on the ground. Ssylvar snarled.  
  
"Get up you fool, and get that man out of there!"  
  
The rabbit man sat up and gibbered for a second, "But...th-the Siyem just put him in there..."  
  
"I don't CARE. Get him out or I will obliterate you!" Ssylvar imagined for himself a huge sword, which appeared in his hand. The rabbit man stammered and then nodded, running for the pits. Ssylvar smiled. He couldn't actually kill this man, not yet, but it was very easy to intimidate the lesser demons.  
  
The rabbit demon pulled the screaming man from the pits.  
  
"Bring him to me!" Ssylvar said. The rabbit man complied.  
  
"Do you want to be free of these pits?" Ssylar asked the man, who was still moaning in pain. The man's head shot up, his eyes trying valiantly to regain their focus.  
  
"Yes..." the man coughed.  
  
"Excellent," Ssylvar hissed, "Now, listen carefully..."  
  
----  
  
Donatello was out of things to vomit. He wasn't sure how he -could- vomit, considering he didn't ever go to the bathroom. He could only assume that the removal of waste was something that Gaia controlled, and the contents of his stomach had not reached that point yet.  
  
Either way, he'd completely puked up his guts.  
  
Luckily, he'd managed to keep from getting too much of it on Shayl's carpeting. It was too much for -her- liking, so Don could take little solace in that. He was now sitting on her couch trying to get his breathing under control.  
  
"Would you just take it easy?" Shayl said from the kitchen. She hadn't been near him for over an hour.  
  
"I can't! I just....I...." Don couldn't finish; he felt another wave of nausea engulf him. Shayl made an exasperated sound, but said nothing more. With an effort, Don managed to suppress the nausea enough to speak again.  
  
"I'm sorry," he said, "It's just that...the thing I just did was so unlike me. I hate hurting people. I am a ninja, but I always strive to cause as little damage as possible. That's why I fight with a bo. Better to disarm an opponent than disembowel them."  
  
Shayl sighed, "You have to do that kind of thing. You can't let criminals run around gaining power, because that's what they'll do the moment they realize that they can. Many innocent lives have been ended by power-crazy demons."  
  
Don rubbed his face. "I realize that. I took him to the pits for that very reason. I just don't know if I'll ever get used to doing something like that."  
  
"Whatever. I can't help you there. I think it's time for you to go home." Shayl tore open a portal before Don could protest. Sighing he stood up and began to walk toward it.  
  
"I'm sorry I'm such a bad Siyem," he said, "I'd gladly give it up if I could."  
  
"Get out of here," Shayl snarled, a very sour look on her face. Don nodded and walked through the portal, taking his vomit bowl with him.  
  
----  
  
Leo shook his head; this place was amazing. He wasn't sure he beleived everything Orgo had told him, but he was starting to come around. There were just so many weird and unexplainable things here. It was just too much for the realistic turtle. Still, nothing bad had happened to him, and soon they were going to go see his brother. This Leo truly did not believe, but there was always hope. Unfortunately, Orgo had told him he would not like what he saw.  
  
Suddenly, a weird little creature appeared from nowhere. It looked like a ferret, only it had yellow fur and bat-like wings. It squwaked loudly and then disappeared just as abruptly as it had arrived. Orgo nodded solemly.  
  
"It is time to go see your brother," he said, "My Xawk tells me that it is safe to proceed to where he is. We must avoid the evil Demon that is impersonating your brother. I'm told that he is gone now."  
  
"Your -what- tells you?"  
  
"My Xawk. That little creature you just saw. Pesky little creatures, but useful. They can track down any demon...it just takes a bit of time and patience."  
  
Leo shrugged, "Ok...whatever. I guess I can believe that. Everything is so weird here."  
  
Orgo showed his craggy yellow teeth in a smile, "Indeed it is. Come, it is time to go."  
  
Orgo made a portal and guestured for Leo to enter. He walked through, followed shortly by Orgo. They stepped out onto a rocky plain. The air was very hot, and Leo could see various pits of bubbling lava. Upon closer inspection he realized that there were -people- in those pits, and they were screaming in agony.  
  
"What IS this place?" He exclaimed.  
  
"This is the place where people are punished," Orgo said sadly, "Follow me."  
  
Orgo led Leo towards one of the pits. When they reached it, Orgo stepped aside and Leo looked into it. It was absolutely horrible to see the people burning in agony...Leo wanted to vomit. Then, just as he was nearly unable to look any longer, he saw a green shell pop up out of the lava. Leo watched in horror as his brother's face emerged, his screams of agony and distress louder than all the rest. Leo instinctively dove forward, hoping to save him, but Orgo grabbed onto him.  
  
"No! You mustn't! You'll become trapped in there as well!"  
  
"We have to save him!" Leo's voice was hysterical, his voice ragged.  
  
"We can't save him! Once he's been put in the pits, only Gaia herself may release him." Orgo shook his head sadly.  
  
"Who the hell is Gaia?!" Leo was frantic.  
  
"She's the goddess who rules this place. She has condemned your brother because she thinks he is an evil criminal, while the evil one impersonating him roams free."  
  
Leo took in a ragged breath. "Let's get out of here...and then you're going to tell me how to find this Demon!"  
  
Orgo nodded and made a portal. "Go ahead through. I have a small, mundane errand I must run. This portal will take you back to my home."  
  
Leo barely heard him. He swallowed heavily and ran through the portal, unable to look back at his tortured brother.  
  
Orgo waited until the portal was closed, and then bellowed, "Rathro! Come here!"  
  
The rabbit man came scuttling out from behind a boulder. He skidded to a stop and watched in horror as Orgo's body morphed into his incredibly gruesome four-armed demon form.  
  
"W-what can I do f-for you, master?" Rathro the rabbit asked pathetically, bowing low to the ground.  
  
"Remove that fool from the pit."  
  
Rathro nodded and ran to pull the turtle out. He dragged him up to Orgo.  
  
"You are released from your torture," Orgo said, his voice bored, "Change!"  
  
The turtle nodded, and gasping, his form began to morph. Shortly, there was a sickly man slumped on the ground at Orgo's feet instead of a turtle.  
  
"You must never use that Demon form again, do you understand?" Orgo's voice was very low and quiet.  
  
The man nodded.  
  
"If you do," orgo said, "You will be sent -back- to the pits, and absolutely nothing will save you from them."  
  
The man nodded. "H-how am I supposed to get out of here?" he asked.  
  
Orgo sneered and tore open a portal. "Go," he said. The man nodded and dove into the portal. Orgo shook his head and turned to Rathro. "Not a word of this," he said at his most ominous. He then made a portal of his own and was gone.  
  
----  
  
"I'm worried about Raph and Leo," Mike said.  
  
"Me too," Splinter said. They have both been gone far too long.  
  
"You don't think..." Mike couldn't say it.  
  
"I hope not, my son."  
  
"Maybe I should go look for them..." Mike wasn't sure he wanted to do that.  
  
Splinter sighed, "Go and look, Michelangelo, but don't stray far. If indeed something has happened to them, It would be the end of me to have it happen to you."  
  
Mike shook his head. I won't go far Master, and I'll take a phone with me. If anything weird happens, I'll call you."  
  
Splinter nodded. Mike grabbed a phone and was heading out the door when he stopped abruptly. Then, after choking back a sob, he ran up to Splinter and gave him a hug.  
  
"Don't worry master...I'm sure they're fine. And I'll be fine too."  
  
With that, Mike hurried out of the lair, hoping against hope that nothing had happened to his two remaining brothers.  
  
----  
  
Don sat in his sparsely decorated living room, his mind focused on nothing but Gaia. Don was actually starting to feel better about his situation as Siyem.  
  
"So, I only have to serve seven days out of the year? That's great....besides, what are the odds that I'll get someone bad? Maybe it won't happen too often."  
  
[I hope not, for your sake, Donatello.]  
  
"Well...I'll get over it, I hope. This was just my first time doing it. God...I just hope it doesn't happen much.." Don sighed.  
  
[I know, Donatello. I....]  
  
Don gasped and clutched his head....it felt as though his brain was being sucked out through his nose. He screamed in agony.  
  
"Gaia! Gaia!" he yelled, but he could not hear her. The horrible feeling continued for several moments, but then, just as suddenly as it had started, it was gone.  
  
"Gaia?" Don asked, but there was no response. He had an overwhelming feeling of depression and emptyness, and it took a few moments to realize why. Gaia was gone...he'd been cut off.  
  
----  
  
A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews. Unfortunately, after today the updates will not be coming as quickly. School has started, and I've got a very busy semester ahead of me. I will try my very hardest to write a chapter a week...I'll try to do two a week if I'm feeling particularly inspired, but I can't make any promises.   
  
Thanks again to everyone who's been reading! My effort to update will truly be genuine. 


	10. Dual threat

Disclaimer: I don't own the Ninja Turtles. I own the Demon world, it's inhabitants, the Reapers and their respective identities, and the message Xawks.  
  
----  
  
Raphael sat in Ssylvar's home, mulling over what he had just seen. He didn't particularly care when the snake man came back, but Raph didn't like this world, and he knew he couldn't just walk around it...which was exactly what he wanted to do, if only to blow off some steam as he would often do at home.  
  
He then began to wonder if his family had started to worry about him. He'd been in this weird world for over a day now, and though he'd been gone longer on some of his anger management excursions, with Don's death they had all become little paranoid.  
  
Raphael shrugged even though no one was around to see it. Maybe he could ask Ssylvar when he got back if there were some way to bring his brothers and master here as well. Raph stood up and began to pace around the room. He had to step back suddenly as a portal opened directly in front of him. Sslyar stepped out.  
  
"Damn it!" Raph exclaimed, "Watch where you're opening those things!"  
  
Ssylvar's face curled into a smile, a smile which Raph did not find particularly pleasant. "I apologize," Ssylvar said, "Not to worry, though. It can't hurt you."  
  
"What if it like...tears me in half?"  
  
Ssylvar chuckled, "It wouldn't. The portal would simply adjust itself before opening; which may be what happened there."  
  
Raph waved his hand dismissively, "Whatever. So, what am I supposed to do about this guy impersonating Don? You were right when you said I wouldn't like what I saw."  
  
"Yes, I thought you might ask something like that. I actually have a friend I would like you to speak with. He has a bit more information than I do."  
  
----  
  
Leo was pacing back and forth in Orgo's living room. He'd already thrown up once, and now waves of nausea were coursing through his body. He really didn't want to have to run to the sink again. He only hoped Orgo wouldn't be too angry.  
  
He continued pacing, stopping every few minutes to try and focus his mind and block out the overwhelming feeling of nausea. Suddenly, a portal opened on the other side of the room and Orgo stepped out.  
  
"Orgo!" Leo exclaimed, "I'm glad you're back...I was wondering...isn't there -anything- we can do for my brother? Maybe talk to this Gaia person or something?" Leo felt his nausea leaving as he was able to focus his mind on the hope that his brother could be helped.  
  
Orgo sighed and sat down in an easy chair. "There may be something, but it will be difficult. A friend of mine is coming here shortly; he should be of some help in this matter, and he's told me that he has found a new ally who also may be of some help."  
  
"A new ally?"  
  
Orgo nodded, "I think I may know who he is. My friend wasn't specific; here in the Demon world we tend to forego descriptions because the way people look changes all the time. But...he and I are of the same mind in many areas, so..." Orgo snapped his fingers and his little yellow Xawk appeared. He murmured something to it, and with a squawk, it disappeared. "I have just sent my Xawk to inform them that we're ready for their visit."  
  
Leo nodded, "So....are you going to tell me who this new ally is?"  
  
Orgo shook his head, "I'm not entirely sure I know who it is. Better to just wait and see."  
  
Leo sighed, "Do you have any tea? I'm not feeling too well."  
  
Orgo smiled sympathetically and stood up. "Certainly. Earl Gray all right?"  
  
Leo nodded.  
  
----  
  
Donatello had just tried for what seemed like the millionth time to contact Gaia. Nothing. She was gone. He slumped down onto his couch and hung his head in his hands; never before had Don felt to incredibly depressed and lonely. Then, suddenly, a thought entered his mind. He snapped his fingers and said, "Xawk!"  
  
Rudy appeared above him with a happy squall. Don held out his arm and the creature cheerily obliged, preening his wings vainly.  
  
"Rudy," Don said, "I have a huge problem."  
  
The little ferret-thing cocked his head at Don; somehow Don could tell that it understood.  
  
"Do you think you could go tell Shayl? Gaia's left me and I don't know what's going on...I need her help."  
  
The little red Xawk screeched and took off from Don's arm. He got the impression that it would get right to its errand without delay, and that it felt that it was a much better Xawk than any of the others because it could get it's job done quickly. Don shooed it away and sighed; what would he do if Shayl didn't know? What was going on?  
  
----  
  
Raph blinked as a little yellow Xawk appeared above Ssylvar's head.  
  
"Hey, I thought yours was blue?" he asked, making a face at the ugly little thing. Ssylvar smiled and stood up.  
  
"That's from my friend. He's ready for us."  
  
Raph stood up also, "Well, let's go then."  
  
Ssylvar nodded and created a portal. Raph stomped through first, no longer afraid of the strange phenomenon; or at least, he wanted to look like he wasn't afraid. They emerged in a living room much like Ssylvar's. There was an old man sitting on the couch and....Raph gasped.  
  
"Leo??"  
  
"Raph??" The two turtles spoke at the same time. Leo jumped up from the couch and ran over to his brother. "What are you doing here?" he asked.  
  
Raph made a face, "What are -you- doing here?"  
  
Orgo stood up from the couch. "I thought so....we both decided upon the same course of action."  
  
The two turtles turned to Orgo. Ssylvar's serpentine face curled into a grin.  
  
"Yep," he said, "And that's fine with me." he nodded to the two turtles, who had turned to look at him, "Perhaps you two should fill each other in on what you're doing here."  
  
Raph frowned, "Why didn't you tell me that my brother was here?"  
  
Ssylvar continued to grin, "I wasn't certain. I had a guess, but I wanted to see for myself. Orgo and I often work together, but we don't always manage to communicate well. Xawks are...less than reliable at times."  
  
Raph snorted. "Fine," he turned to Leo, "So...why are you here? It's about Don, isn't it?"  
  
Leo nodded. "It is...I..." Leo had to swallow some bile, "I...saw him. He was being tortured."  
  
"What!?" Raph whirled on Ssylvar, "You didn't tell me -that- either!"  
  
Ssylvar shook his head, "I didn't know it. I can only assume that Orgo here did."  
  
Orgo nodded, "Yes...I had recently been to the pits to speak with one of the guardian demons there when I noticed him. I was astonished because it appeared to be the very same demon who has been terrorizing our world as of late."  
  
Ssylvar nodded, "I had wondered what happened to the original Donatello. I was his Messenger to this world, and he had not seemed like the type to go around destroying people and throwing them into the pits."  
  
"Messenger?" Leo looked confused.  
  
Ssylvar nodded, "After he was killed, I was summoned to bring him here. There are many demons whose job it is to bring the dead to this world. As I said, Donatello seemed like a nice enough guy...and there was no way he could obtain that kind of power as fast as he did."  
  
"So..." Raph said, "The real Don is here in this world, and he's being tortured as we speak?"  
  
Orgo nodded solemnly.  
  
"Well, let's get him the hell out of there!" Raph yelled. Leo shook his head, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder.  
  
"We can't," Leo said, "The only one who can get him out of there is Gaia...apparenly she's the ruler of this place. I think," and Leo looked over to the two Demons, "that Gaia mistook Don for this evil demon guy and cast him into the pits..." Orgo nodded.  
  
"Yes, that's what I think as well," the old Demon said.  
  
"So...what are we supposed to do?" Raph asked impatiently.  
  
"The only option," Ssylvar said, "Is to kill the Demon impersonating your brother. Once he's dead, Gaia will receive his tainted soul and realize the mistake she's made."  
  
"We can't just talk to Gaia?" Leo asked.  
  
Orgo shook his head, "No...no one can speak to Gaia."  
  
"Then, how do you know she exists?" Raph asked.  
  
"All Demons know it...it's just something that becomes a part of us." Orgo's voice had a hint of admiration in it.  
  
"So...kill this evil Demon...." Raph shook his head, "If he's so powerful, how's that supposed to be done?"  
  
Ssylvar smiled ironically, "It can be done, but it would take legions of Demons to do it, which we simply can't organize. No one would be willing to give their lives up like that."  
  
"So, it's impossible," Leo said, his voice deflated.  
  
"Not really," Orgo said, "You see, the reason Ssylvar and I brought you here is because you two have a chance to kill him. Because you are from the living world, his magic will not affect you, and the spells Ssylvar and I cast upon you when we brought you here allow you to have the stregnth and stamina of Demons."  
  
"We also thought you might like a chance to save you brother," Sslvar added.  
  
"Wait..." Leo said, "You just said that his magic wouldn't affect us, but -you- cast spells on us. That doesn't make any sense."  
  
Orgo nodded, "Ah, but you see, Ssylvar and I are not normal Demons. Our status as messengers allows us to travel to the living world, and thus we can have an affect on the living if we choose."  
  
Raphael seemed deep in thought for a moment, and then he spoke, "So...it would take a legion of Demons to beat him, but apparently Leo and I would be able to win? I'm sorry, but that still doesn't make any sense."  
  
"It all has to do with his magic," Orgo said, "If you were Demons, he could kill you with one spell, but none of his spells will affect you, and the only defense he will have is hand-to-hand combat."  
  
"Well, that's good," Leo said, "Raph and I are trained ninjas. This guy may look like Don, but he won't have his moves."  
  
Raph nodded, "Yeah....we can take him."  
  
Orgo put up a warning hand, "It will not be easy. You must remember that you are fighting a Demon...you and he are very strong, and you must not panic if he throws you through a metal wall or something."  
  
"Understood," Leo said, "Now...how do we find this guy?"  
  
"Easy," Ssylvar said, "My Xawk has been following him."  
  
"He hasn't seen it?" Leo looked worried.  
  
"No...only Messenger demons such and myself and Orgo can have them," Sslyvar said, "And, as such, he wouldn't even think to look for it."  
  
"Well, what're we waiting for?" Raph asked, pulling out his sais.  
  
"Nothing," Ssylvar said, snapping his fingers. His little blue Xawk appeared. "I will make you a portal. It will take you directly to him...you should have the element of surprise."  
  
Ssylvar waved his hand and a portal appeared. "GO!" he yelled. Raph and Leo jumped through, their weapons raised.  
  
----  
  
A/N: So, I found a little time to write. I don't have too much homework yet because it's just the first week of school :)  
  
Here again is the second update of a chapter...I noticed a small plot hole, which I have to be very careful of because this story is somewhat complicated. Sorry about that! 


	11. A New Player Emerges

Disclaimer: I do not own the Ninja Turtles. I do own the Demon World and it's inhabitants, the Reapers and their respective identities (except for Don, of course), and the message Xawks. I'm not sure who Gaia belongs to, but it's not me.  
  
A/N: Ok, so I lied again. I'm not busy yet, and as such, I'm writing. I really enjoy working on this story, and since I've been a good little student and got my homework done early, I figured it would be a nice to write more. I also managed to get the rest of the story outlined, which is totally rad.  
  
----  
  
[This idea of yours had better work.]  
  
"It should, master...."  
  
[We shall see.]  
  
Ssylvar bowed his head; he didn't like being patronized, but he couldn't offend Rigai...he'd be nothing without him.  
  
"If it doesn't work, we still have the upper hand."  
  
[You are a fool.]  
  
Orgo sauntered into the room. "So...what did he say?"   
  
Ssylvar wrinkled his serpentine nose, "Nothing."  
  
"I hardly believe -that-."  
  
Ssylvar rolled his eyes, "Drop it. We have more important things to talk about."  
  
"Ah yes," Orgo grinned, "Let us talk about what will happen soon. I do so enjoy speaking of death."  
  
----  
  
Shayl pulled up her tattered black hood and palmed an enormous machete. She was not looking forward to this death...she had already reviewed the images from the deceased, and it was -all- bad. She hadn't had one this terrible in...well, ever. She sighed and raised her hand to make a portal. Suddenly, her vision was obscured by the flapping of red wings. She batted at her face, but the little Xawk would not relent. Its cries were frantic, and Shayl had a hard time making out what it was saying. When she finally did, she gasped and snatched poor little Rudy right out of the air.  
  
"Now, you listen carefully, you little snot," she said, her voice growling, "You get right back to Don, and you tell him to arm himself. This is -serious-. I have to go on a Messenger run, but I'll be with him as soon as I can. It's too late for me to avoid this job." She released Rudy and he fluttered above her head, anxious as ever, and disappeared. Shayl took a deep breath and left her house, her anxiousness to end this unpleasant errand even more heightened.  
  
----  
  
Don nearly leapt out of his seat when Rudy appeared in front of his face. It took him a few minutes to calm the creature down enough to communicate with it, but when Don got Shayl's message, he immediately adorned his 'scary' gear, including the giant sword. He tried to remain calm, but he felt trapped, depressed, and despite the presence of Rudy, horribly alone. He walked into the kitchen to get a drink of water, Rudy sitting stiffly on his shoulder. It was then that he heard Rudy's alarmed sqwaking. He whirled around, drawing his sword, and upsetting his little Xawk, who disappeared. Then, as Don gazed at the sight before him, he couldn't move a muscle. There, rushing toward him with weapons drawn, were Leo and Raph.  
  
"Guys..." Don breathed, "What're you doing here?"  
  
Neither of them responded, and Don realized that they were going to attack him. He jumped out of the way of Raph, who had been in the lead, and then barely avoided a slice from Leo's katanas.  
  
"What is this!!?!?" Don bellowed, and backed up against a wall.  
  
Raph stepped forward, his eyes ablaze with anger. "We're here to take you out, imposter!" He then leapt forward, and Don was barely able to duck out of the way. Leo was waiting for such a move and swung his sword right at Don's neck. Luckily, Don saw the sword coming and was able to turn his shoulder toward the blow. The katana sunk in deep, astonishing Donatello, who had gotten used to his Demonic stregnth. He wrenched away, blood pouring out of the wound in his shoulder. He turned and saw Raph coming in for another charge.  
  
Don wanted more than anything to reason with them, but instead he panicked. He waved his hand, and a portal opened right in front of Raph...the startled turtle stopped his advance for a moment, and Don dove through, right under another swipe from Leo. The portal zipped closed, leaving Leo and Raph alone in the house.  
  
"Well...now what?" Raph asked.  
  
Leo shook his head. "Dunno...guess we're stuck here..." It was then that they heard a squawk and looked up to see a yellow Xawk hovering above their heads. It disappeared, and a few moments later a portal opened before them. Shrugging, they both stepped through.  
  
----  
  
"You failed!!" Ssylvar was livid.  
  
"Look," Raph said, his temper rising, "He was -fast-, and he made one of those portal things before we could stop him. He wasn't some slow, inexperienced fighter. He knew what he was doing."  
  
Leo nodded, "I agree. He moved like a ninja."  
  
Orgo seemed deep in thought, "Hmm...I hadn't thought of this before, but it may well be possible, if that demon were truly strong enough."  
  
"Hadn't thought of what?" Raph asked.  
  
"I hadn't considered it, but it's possible that this evil Demon may have stolen some knowledge from your brother. It would make sense...he would be able to impersonate him better."  
  
Leo looked skeptical, "How come you didn't think of this before?"  
  
Orgo shrugged, "I didn't think he would be strong enough to do it...it requires a massive amount of power."  
  
Ssylvar nodded, "It sure does...that doesn't bode well for the people of this world."  
  
Raph frowned, "Ok then...now what?"  
  
"Well," Ssylvar said, "We'll have to track him down again, which won't be easy. He knows he's being watched now, and he'll be wary. We'll have to think about this for a while."  
  
Orgo nodded, "I agree. Perhaps you two would like a break? You could go back to Ssylvar's home until we come up with a solution...it will most likely involve some sort of magic, which will undoubtedly bore you."  
  
Raph continued to frown, "Oh..so get rid of the two thugs until they're needed for the grunt work again, is it?"  
  
Ssylvar put up his hands defensively, "We mean no offense. Please, if you have a way to track this Demon down, please share it."  
  
Raph didn't like the tone in Ssylvar's voice...it was rather close to sarcasm. "No," he said, "I don't have any idea." Raph growled angrily, "Make your stupid portal then. We'll wait around like good little thugs until you need us."  
  
Orgo made a portal for them, "We don't think of you as thugs," he said as the turtles walked toward the portal, "You're invaluable to our efforts."  
  
"Whatever," Raph said, and they disappeared through the portal.  
  
----  
  
Shayl stepped into Don's living room, but it was deserted. There was blood on the floor, and signs of a struggle, but nothing else. Then, Rudy appeared in front of her.  
  
"Where's Don?" she asked. The little Xawk informed her that he couldn't find Don. Shayl shook her head and said, "Xawk!" A little black Xawk appeared.  
  
"Blackie...go find Donatello." The little black Xawk disappeared and Rudy informed her that if he couldn't find Don, then why on earth would -her- stupid Xawk be able to? Shayl decided not to comment on that. A few moments later Blackie returned and told her that Don could not be found.  
  
"Both of you," she said impatiently, "Go look for Don, and don't come back until you find him!" Each of the Xawks whined piteously, but then, in a flash, they were gone.  
  
Shayl sighed heavily and left for her own home...it wouldn't do to stick around here...if Don -had- been attacked, she didn't want to be here if his assailants returned. If they could make the Siyem bleed, well...they'd obliterate her.  
  
----  
  
"what would you have us do, master?" Ssylvar was prostrated on the ground...Orgo was watching him from the couch, an amused expression on his face. He couldn't hear Rigai, but he could guess at what was being said.  
  
[Fool! I knew your plan wouldn't work, and now your quarry has escaped to Earth!]  
  
"Earth? How did he get there? It's forbidden to travel to Earth unless you're on escort or Gaia gives you permission..."  
  
[DON'T tell me about things I already know. Gaia favors him...of course she gave him permission!]  
  
"But..." Ssylvar cringed at Rigai's tone, "We cut him off! Gaia has no power..."  
  
[She still has power, you fool! She is weakened, but she is still a threat to us. Now that the Siyem is in the living world, you cannot reach him. Gaia lives there, and she will not allow you to get him.]  
  
"Then...what should we do?"  
  
[There is a way. First you must kill the Wiyem...that task at least should not be too hard for you. Once he is dead, I will provide you with a way to bring the Siyem back here.]  
  
"Yes, master. I will do as you say."  
  
[You'd better.]  
  
----  
  
Mike trudged through the monotonous sewer tunnels, starting to feel more and more dread about Leo and Raph. He'd been searching all night, and though he had told Splinter he wouldn't stray far or stay out long, he'd become determined to find them. He'd called home to inform Splinter of his plans, and now, here he was, still not finding anything. Mike stopped and sighed. Maybe he should just return home. He turned around and then stopped short. He was standing directly underneath the alley where he'd found Don.  
  
Mike shuddered...just what he needed to remember tonight. He started to walk away, but he stopped again. He had a weird feeling, like...maybe he should go up there and look.  
  
"No," Mike said, "I don't want to go up there." Still he didn't walk away. He stood underneath the manhole for several minutes, telling himself he didn't want to go up there. Then, he took a deep breath and climbed up the ladder, lifted up the manhole cover, and stepped out into the alley where his brother had died.  
  
There was something on the ground a few feet from the manhole. Mike squinted, but he couldn't make out what it was...it was nothing but a black blob...a -large- black blob. Mike blinked. The black blob was wearing a huge sword! Mike cautiously walked closer and realized that this was most certainly a body, and there was a hood covering the face. Mike told himself that he should just leave, go back down the ladder and go home. He reached out his hand toward the hood, slowly, carefully, afraid this body would begin to move.  
  
He grabbed onto the hood and pulled it back slightly; then, with a gasp, Mike compulsively pulled it the rest of they way back.  
  
"Don!" he exclaimed, feeling a thousand emotions coursing through his body all at once. He immediately thought that this must be some horrible dream; he was reliving the death of his brother all over again. Then, Don gave a pained groan and Mike realized that this was indeed real, and that Don, or whoever this was, was indeed alive. Hurt, but alive. Without a second thought, Mike knealt down, picked up Don in his arms and carried him over to the manhole.  
  
He then slung him over his back and slowly made his way down the ladder. Mike was in a daze...had he really just found Donatello? It couldn't be him...it absolutely couldn't. Still, as Mike carried him through the sewer tunnels toward the lair, he felt a strange sensation. A sensation that almost felt like hope. 


	12. Run Away!

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Disclaimer: Don't own the ninja turtles, do own most of the other stuff.  
  
----  
  
"This act dooms you!"  
  
"Stop your whining, little man!" Ssylvar's hand tightened around the Wiyem's throat. The difference in their strength and power was incredible. A large sword appeared in Ssylvar's hand; the Wiyem gasped and feebly tried to cast a spell against the stonger Reaper, but Orgo had been ready, standing in the background, and swiftly cast a counter spell.  
  
"NO!" the Wiyem screamed, as Ssylvar's hand drove the sword through his gut. The Wiyem's small body writhed for a moment and then wilted in Ssylvar's grasp. The snake man tossed him to the ground with a snarl.  
  
"Too easy," Ssylvar said.  
  
Orgo shrugged, "He was the Wiyem. What did you expect?"  
  
"I figured he might make me bleed a little or something..." Ssylvar extended his hand over the dead Wiyem's body. "I take your power for my own!" he bellowed. There was a flash of blue light, which twisted out of the Wiyem's body and wrapped itself around Ssylvar's hand. He consumed the power greedily.  
  
"At least cutting off Gaia had -some- reward," the snake man said, grinning.  
  
"Glutton," Orgo said. "Come on...we have another errand to run."  
  
----  
  
Shayl waited impatiently for her Xawks to return...she was fed up with the stubborn creatures. She briefly considered the possibility of getting the Reapers to use cell phones, but she immediately dismissed the idea. They were just too unreliable. Xawks could find a Reaper anywhere in the Demon realm, even if it took a while. She slumped down in a chair to wait.  
  
She had been sitting for several minutes when a portal opened in front of her. She stood up quickly, not daring to hope it was Don...he still couldn't make a proper portal. Much to her disgust, Ssylvar and Orgo stepped through.  
  
"Ah...I thought we might find you here," Orgo said, smiling.  
  
"What do you want?" Shayl asked bitterly.  
  
"Oh, nothing..." Ssylvar said, "Well...ok, we DO want something." His hands shot out toward Shayl's throat...she was almost as weak as the Wiyem; this should be easy. However, Shayl had always held a deep hatred for these two, and Ssylvar's action did not come as a surprise. She swiftly dodged, tore open a portal, and was gone before either of them could react.  
  
"Dammit!" Ssylvar exclaimed. He called for his Xawk, which appeared immediately. "Find her!" He exclaimed. The little blue beast wouldn't budge. "What?! Go find her!" Ssylvar was enraged, but the Xawk informed him that Shayl had gone to a place where she could hurt him, and he didn't want to get hurt so he wasn't going to go. Frustrated, Ssylvar waved it away.  
  
"It doesn't matter anyway," Orgo said, "She's no threat to us."  
  
"I know," Ssylvar said, "But I would have really enjoyed getting rid of her."  
  
Orgo sighed sadly, "I know, as would I. We'll get her eventually, not to worry."  
  
"Right," Ssylvar said, his anger dissolved. "Let's go. I want to start that spell."  
  
Orgo nodded and made them a portal. As they exited, Ssylvar spat on Shayl's floor, his serpentine face curled into a sneer.  
  
----  
  
Shayl dove from her portal and whirled around, expecting a Xawk to appear in the air shortly. She called Blackie, who told her he still couldn't find Don, and then went on the lookout for bad Xawks. After some time, Shayl allowed herself to relax...she -had- chosen a good hiding place. It was a cavern, the roof very shallow and the walls very narrow. If a Xawk came to her here, she could easily catch and kill it before it could return to its master. Making light in this place was also no problem for her, so the intruder Xawk would simply have no chance.  
  
Still...she wasn't certain what to do now. If she went anywhere else, she was sure to be caught. She could continue to transport herself from place to place on the run, but what good would that do? Besides, she would run out of energy far quicker than her pursuers. All they had to do was catch her with one spell and she was finished.  
  
Shayl leaned against the wall of the cavern, sighing heavily. If she valued her life, she would have to stay here. Great. Just great. Shayl was not fond of idleness, nor of hopelessness, but that seemed to be what she was faced with.  
  
Grumbling, she did her best to resign herself to her fate...stuck in a cramped cavern with a stupid Xawk. Great.  
  
----  
  
"We'll begin the spell shortly." Orgo rubbed his hands together. He'd already brought Leo and Raph back from Ssylvar's house.  
  
"What the heck is this 'spell,' anyway?" Raph asked.  
  
"We're going to bring the Evil Demon back," Ssylvar said, "You two just be ready with your weapons, so you can take him out when he gets here."  
  
Leo and Raph exchanged glances, and neither of them pulled out their weapons.  
  
"Ok," Orgo said, not looking at them, "This thing is complicated, so it'll take a while for us to set up, but once we're done, it should be quite a show." He turned to Ssylvar, "Ok," he said, "Let's find the new Wiyem. He or she will have been chosen by now, and I think they won't be expecting our little surprise."  
  
Ssylvar chuckled in response and began to chant. Orgo joined him a moment later. Leo and Raph just watched, both with sour expressions on their faces.  
  
----  
  
"Master! Master Splinter!" Mike gasped and staggered into the lair. He had a large bundle slung over his back, and Splinter gave him a puzzled look as he entered the room.  
  
"You'll never believe what I found, Master!" Mike exclaimed and carefully placed his bundle on the couch.  
  
"What is it, Michelangelo?" Splinter asked, stepping away from the couch slightly. Mike reached out and pulled back the cowl that was obscuring a face. Splinter gasped.  
  
"Donatello!" he exclaimed, and Splinter found himself unable to say more.  
  
"I found him right where he'd died!" Mike said, his voice reaching a hysterical pitch. "I...I didn't know what to think, so I brought him here."  
  
Splinter shook his head and uttered a few incoherent sounds. Then, he finally found his voice, "I do not know how to explain this, my son. We must wake him up."  
  
Mike nodded frantically and ran into the kitchen. He returned a few moments later with a small vial. He pulled off the lid and held the bottle underneath Don's nose. Immediately the turtle began to sputter and cough, the smelling salts invading his sinuses in a very unwelcome way.  
  
Don sat bolt upright, and then began to pat on his chest, wondering how he could be alive. Then he remembered the portal, and how he'd managed to escape just in time. He also abruptly noticed that the sword wound in his arm no longer hurt; it must have healed itself....Then, he wondered where he was, and he thought to look up....  
  
"Oh my god..." Don said, staring at Michelangelo and Splinter, "I'm...home."  
  
Mike and Splinter just stared at him, unsure what to say or do. Here sat someone who looked and sounded just like Don....but he was wearing strange clothes, and a huge sword. Plus, they'd cremated him. Don was DEAD.  
  
Don held up his hands defensively, "You're not gonna attack me, are you?" He sounded quite forlorn.  
  
Mike was the first to regain his voice, "Who....who -are- you?"  
  
"Mikey..." Don said, "It's me, Don!"  
  
"It can't be. Don's...he's dead." Mike had tears rolling down his face. Don didn't know how to respond to him. Everything he could think of saying would sound rediculous. Finally, Splinter managed to regain his voice.  
  
"You can't be Donatello, just as he said. We cremated his body and scattered the ashes. What sort of intruder are you?"  
  
Don felt like he was going to puke. First Leo and Raph think he's some kind of impostor, and now the rest of his family did too. "There must be some way to convince you I'm who I say I am," Don said, feeling his gut constrict as Mike's face became even more sad. Then, in a flash, Don remembered something. "Mike," he said, "Do you remember what I said about my journal?"  
  
Mike's eyes widened, "Yeah...." he breathed, "Yeah, I remember."  
  
Don grinned, "I said it was a top secret government manifesto, and you could only read it if I was dead. Did you read it?"  
  
Mike nodded, unable to speak. Splinter couldn't either. Both had begun to cling to a strange hope, that somehow the one they had lost had indeed returned. Don continued to grin, starting to feel more confident.  
  
"I said a bunch of good stuff in there about you guys. Did you read page 64?"  
  
Mike nodded again. Don continued.  
  
"I knew you would. I knew you wouldn't just go reading everything in there right away, even if you wanted to. You've got too great of a conscience for that."  
  
Mike cried even more, and Splinter's hands were shaking. "How can this be?" the old rat asked. "Donatello is dead. How can you know these things?"  
  
Don sighed, "It's very complicated, Master. Rediculously complicated....I...I don't even know where to begin."  
  
"Begin at the beginning, my son, and perhaps Michelangelo and I will come to understand."  
  
Don felt heartened by how Splinter had referred to him, and he began to recount his story. He told them of his death, and how he'd been taken to another world; a world of the dead. He told them about the Reapers and his initation into their group. He told them about Gaia, and a look of great sadness crossed his face. Finally, he told them about how he'd lost Gaia, and how Leonardo and Raphael had shown up at his home and attacked him.  
  
"Leo and Raph were there??" Mike asked, speaking for the first time in a long while.   
  
Don nodded solemnly. "I don't know why...they shouldn't have been there, unless they'd been killed.." Don stopped abruptly. That was not what Splinter and Mike needed to hear right now.  
  
Mike sighed, "I went out to look for them tonight...they'd both been gone for quite a while. Maybe they -are- dead....  
  
Don waves his hand dismissively, "Now, maybe they aren't. There's some weird stuff going on here, so I wouldn't put it out of the equasion. What really concerns me is why Leo and Raph were trying to kill me....um, by the way, demons -can- die. It's all rather confusing. Anyway, I didn't even get a chance to explain myself. Though, I'm not sure what good it would have done. They seemed pretty determined."  
  
"That does not make sense," Splinter said, "Your brothers would not wantonly attack you."  
  
"Unless they had a good reason to, right?" Don sounded sad.  
  
"I did not say that, but the thought did cross my mind," Splinter said, "Though, what you have said certainly makes me think you are the Donatello I raised."  
  
"Maybe there's something else going on that we don't know about?" Mike said, wanting to restore his own faith that Don was really who he said he was.  
  
Don could only shrug, "I wish I knew. The only indication I have is my being cut off from Gaia. My trainer Shayl told me that it was a really big deal, and that I should prepare myself for something bad....and she was right."  
  
Splinter shook his head, "I do not know what to suggest. We must get Leonardo and Raphael back here somehow."  
  
"I don't know if we can," Don said, "I haven't learned much, and someone is out to get me. I really need to-" Don was cut off as the ground began to shake wildly. He fell from the couch with a thump, and Splinter and Mike both lost their footing. Each was on their feet again a moment later, however.  
  
"What's going on?!" Mike yelled.  
  
"I...I don't know!" Don yelled back, and then gasped in horror as a black whirling vortex opened up at Mike's feet.  
  
"What the HELL??" Mike screamed, trying to jump away but finding that his feet were stuck in place. "I can't move!" The vortex began to whirl faster, and Don felt a very strong pull on his entire body. He and Splinter, plus everything else in the lair, began to slide toward the portal. Mike seemed to be the only thing not being sucked in.  
  
Don was sliding slower than Splinter, so he grabbed onto him and fought his way toward a pipe in the wall. It required a massive amount of strength, but he finally managed to reach it. He and Splinter both grabbed on, clinging for dear life.  
  
Don looked around frantically, trying to think of some way to stop this horror. Then, he gasped as searing pain flashed through his skull. It was short, but it got his attention. Then, he heard a voice:  
  
[Donatello....you must....]  
  
The voice cut off and Don gasped again...it was Gaia! He prayed she would finish; he desperately wanted to know what he must do.  
  
[...you must....kill.....Michelangelo...]  
  
That was -not- what Don was expecting. "What!?" He bellowed, refusing to believe what he had heard. Gaia's voice returned.  
  
[You must...he's being used....I chose him as Wiyem so you would have a chance....you must...kill him so the link is severed.]  
  
"What link?? What is this?!" Don was losing his grip on the pipe, and so was Splinter.  
  
[Kill him! I'm...I'm ordering you to kill him! This....is....the only chance. The two Reapers...they are trying to bring you back....you have to stop them...you are the only one who can stop them.]  
  
Don couldn't do it. He knew how important it was, but he couldn't kill his brother...he COULDN'T. Gaia had ordered him to do it, but he couldn't. It was impossible.   
  
Splinter's grip on the pipe failed; Don reached out to him, and as he did so, his tenuous hold failed as well. They both were sliding toward the vortex, where Mike was standing, staring at his feet in abject horror. Don slid closer and closer, but he couldn't reach for his sword. He couldn't kill his brother.  
  
Another migraine pierced his skull. This time, his hands began to shake, and suddenly his arms were moving of their own volition. "NO!" Don screamed, but he couldn't keep his hands from gripping the sword. "Gaia, please don't make me do this!"  
  
[I'm sorry....you know it has to be done. Please...don't lose faith in me, my son.]  
  
Don felt an overwhelming sadness engulf him, both for Michelangelo, as well as for Gaia. He continued to fight his arms, but Gaia was still in control. He slid closer and closer to Mike, though Splinter was moving faster. Don's legs began to move him forward, gaining ground rapidly on the vortex. He reached Mike and his arms pulled back. Don managed to get one look at his brother's horrified face as his possessed arms swung the enormous sword through the air and separared Mike's head from his neck.  
  
The portal closed instantly, and Don staggered back. Mike's headless body slumped to the floor, his head hitting the stone shortly after with a sickening thud. Don felt like he was going to vomit. He threw down the sword with disgust and was just about to turn away when he was met with a kick right to his face. He staggered back, caught off guard but not hurt. Splinter came at him again, and Don reflexively grabbed his master's wrists; Don, greatest of all the demons, was simply stronger and faster than the old rat.  
  
Don continued to hold him, and Splinter snarled angrily. Don could see that his master was consumed by grief and rage. Don had just taken away what was perhaps his last son; there was no way Splinter thought Donatello was 'his son' anymore. Don didn't even try to reason with him, instead looking around the lair. Then, he saw Mike, standing over his own body with a look of pure shock on his face.  
  
"Mike!" Don called, and time stopped. Don released his grip on the now time-frozen Splinter and walked slowly over to Mike.  
  
"That's....me..." the poor turtle said, his voice very tiny. Don sighed.  
  
"I'm so sorry Mike. I didn't want to do it, but I was forced."  
  
"So, you DID kill me..." Mike said, sounding rather like he didn't believe himself.   
  
Don nodded, his expression very sad. "That vortex that was under you...someone was using it to get to me. They were using YOU."  
  
"How were they using me?" Mike asked.  
  
"Gaia...the one who I'd lost. She somehow managed to contact me. She told me that she had chosen you to be....well, to be like me. She did it because she knew that they were going to create that portal. She wanted it to happen near me so I could stop it."  
  
Mike shook his head, "This doesn't make any sense. What did she want to make me into?"  
  
"You remember how I said I was the Siyem...the strongest Demon?"  
  
Mike nodded.  
  
"Well," Don said, "She wanted you to be the Wiyem. The weakest Demon."  
  
Mike looked thunderstruck, "I can't believe this...I just can't..."  
  
Don reached out and put his hand on Mike's shoulder, "I know how you feel. I was going nuts when this first happened to me. I still am...but.." Don waved his hand around, "You can't deny the reality of what's happening right now."  
  
Mike shook his head, "No...I can't. There's my body, yet here I am, and there you are. You're dead, but you're here. You act like Don and know stuff that Don knows and you sound like Don...and..." Mike rubbed his face, "Ok...ok. I can do this. I beleive you Don, I really do."  
  
"You're not just saying that?" Don asked, concerned.  
  
"I have to believe you, Don. I mean, so much weird stuff all at once, and you're the only constant. You are YOU. Nobody could impersonate that."  
  
Don smiled.  
  
Mike grinned as well, but then it faded as he began to look around the lair, "Um....how do we get back to...normal?"  
  
Don looked nervous, "I...I really don't know. I can get me back to normal, but not you."  
  
"What? That's great, Don."  
  
Don opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by yet another horrible migraine. He stifled a scream of pain, and Mike stepped forward, concern evident on his face.  
  
[I'm sorry, Donatello. I know it hurts, but I must speak with you.] Gaia's voice was no longer choppy, but it was very quiet.  
  
[I can help you, but it will be the last time. I am weak.]  
  
Don doubled over, unable to contain his scream of agony as white hot fire seared through his mind. The pain lasted for nearly two minutes, and by the end Don was kneeling on the floor, a small line of drool escaping from his mouth.  
  
[You can now help your brother. You can make him a Demon, make him Wiyem, and you can take him back to Earth. I'm sorry it hurt so much...I must go now. My power is gone.]  
  
"No!" Don said, "You can't!"  
  
[I must.] Gaia's voice was fading rapidly. [I am not dying, only fading into the background. I will no longer be able to prevent them from coming to Earth. Ssylvar and Orgo are your enemies. You must flee.]  
  
"Why didn't you save your power so they couldn't come here?!" Don screamed, "So many will die!"  
  
[I had to..] Gaia's voice was very quiet now [You are the only one who can defeat them...They MUST be stopped. Goodbye Donatello. Perhaps I will speak to you again one day...]  
  
"Wait! Gaia! Don't leave.....dammit." Don pounded his fist on the floor. She was gone. He looked up and saw that Mike was staring at him.  
  
"Sorry," Don said, "Gaia...I....that had to have been weird, I'm sorry."  
  
"No..." Mike said, "I...I heard her too. It was beautiful."  
  
Don was amazed, but, this was Gaia. She was the Spirit of the Earth, and Don was certain she could talk to whomever she pleased.  
  
"So," Don said, "Do you...um...do you accept the job of Wiyem?"  
  
Mike nodded. "Yeah. I kinda have to, I think. After all this, I mean. What else -can- I do?"  
  
Don shrugged, "Heck if I know. Ok...this is going to be tough. Apparently I know how to make you into the Wiyem. Hopefully I have enough power to do it..." Somehow, Don knew that he did indeed have enough power. He began to chant, words coming to his mouth that he didn't even know he knew; he even knew what they meant. Mike gasped as colored runes encircled his body. He could feel himself growing more powerful, becoming...different. The spell went on for several minutes, and finally, Don chanted out the last few words and fell to his knees.  
  
"Woah..." he breathed, "That took a lot out of me." Don started to pull himself up, and Mike offered him his hand. Don gratefully took it.  
  
"Ok," Don said after he'd caught his breath. "I'm gonna start time up again. Stay away from your body. We won't be staying but a few minutes. The guys who are after me know this place thanks to their stupid spell, so we have to go somewhere else."  
  
Mike nodded, "Ok...but, what about Master Splinter?"  
  
"Just grab him. We can sort it all out once we're somewhere safer."  
  
Don grabbed onto Mike's arm and waved his hand. Time returned with a swiftness that took both of the turtles' breath away. Mike looked around, blinking slightly, and then he saw Splinter, looking around in confusion. He ran over to him, grabbing the startled rat by the shoulders.  
  
"I'm sorry, Master," Mike said, "No time to explain!" Don waved his hand and a portal unzipped in front of them. Don guestured Mike through first, Splinter stuggling only slightly in his grasp. Don followed shortly after, glad that he could at least take them somewhere else on Earth. Unfortunately, there would soon be Xawks after him, and Don didn't have a clue what to do about that.  
  
----  
  
A/N: Wow...long chapter... Thanks again to all you readers, reviewers and non-reviewers alike! :)  
  
Also, I have a little treat. I did a sketch of Ssylvar, which can be viewed here:  
  
a href="http://www.geocities.com/animtr83/Ssylvar.jpg"http://www.geocities.com/animtr83/Ssylvar.jpg/a  
  
Sorry if it doesn't make a link...I hope it will, but eh. I'll try to do more Demonic pictures, but that may or may not happen. My first priority is getting this written, of course! :P  
  
/html 


	13. Caverns

Disclaimer: Don't own the Ninja Turtles, do own a bunch of other stuff in here.  
  
----  
  
Shayl dove at the Xawk, grabbing it around the neck and squeezing, hoping to kill it before it could wriggle free. The little beast was screaming wildly, frantically, and Shayl realized suddenly that Blackie was screaming too. He was flying circles around her head, tangling his claws in her hair. Suddenly, Shayl understood why Blackie was so upset; she was strangling Rudy.  
  
She released him, "God, Rudy...I'm sorry."  
  
Rudy informed her that he really ought to claw her eyes out, but since he was a nice Xawk he would let it go just this once. After all, he knew that she was afraid bad Xawks would come into her hiding place, and Rudy wasn't the only red Xawk there was.  
  
Shayl sighed, "Did you find Don? Please tell me you did."  
  
Rudy told her that indeed he did not find Donatello, and that he thought Don might be on Earth. He was the best Xawk there was, but he couldn't go to Earth; it's against the rules.  
  
"I know that Rudy," Shayl said, "But, surely -you- know that he can't be on Earth. We're not allowed to go there unless we have Messenger duty."  
  
Rudy told her that he didn't know how Don could have gotten there, but it was the only explanation he could think of. Don couldn't be dead; Rudy would know.  
  
At this point, Blackie commented that Rudy probably too dumb to know that. Rudy chittered angrily at him, saying that he -was- the smartest Xawk, and what did that make Blackie, hmm?  
  
Shayl waved her hands around at both of them angrily. "Stop it! I don't care which of you is smarter. I want to know what's going on."  
  
Rudy didn't know, and neither did Blackie. They both apologized profusely to Shayl, but she just shook her head at them.  
  
"What good are you, anyway?"  
  
Rudy told her that she wouldn't be anywhere without a Xawk to to guide her. Shayl was about to comment that she wouldn't be in the blasted cavern if it weren't for Xawks when Rudy shot into the air and disappeared.  
  
"What was that all about?" Shayl asked Blackie.  
  
He told her that something big had happened, and she should be able to feel it in a few moments.  
  
Shayl waited and then, in a rush, the knowledge came to her. There were no more rules! None! The Reapers could go to Earth, they could kill....they could do anything they wanted! Shayl gasped in horror. She knew how important the rules were; this was absolutely the worst thing that could happen.  
  
Shayl realized that this event must mean that Don hadn't been completely cut off from Gaia when he'd first contacted her. She thought back to that moment and realized that there -had- been a small influx of knowlede in her mind, but she had ignored it completely in her shock over the whole matter. Now that Gaia was completely cut off, Shayl felt the absence in her very bones. Whereas before the Reapers might have gotten away with only petty rule breaking, now they could unleash a terror upon the Demon and living worlds that was unparalleled! Shayl knew she had to do something, but what? She was low-ranked Reaper...very nearly the weakest. She would just have to find Donatello somehow; he was the only one strong enough to stop what was sure to be a chain reaction of epic proportion.  
  
Shayl had no doubt who the perpretrators of this act were; she just couldn't figure out how they had managed it. Ssylvar and Orgo were powerful, the second and third most powerful of all the Reapers, as a matter of fact, but there was no way they could have managed to cut Gaia off like that...not on their own. Shayl shook her head; she just couldn't fathom it...she also couldn't fathom their gall. This world had existed in a balance for billions of years thanks to Gaia. It was only when intelligent life evolved that she had to start dealing with politics and emotions. Everything else was like conducting a symphony, but trying to conduct intelligence was like trying to catch a waterfall. Shayl did not envy Gaia's position, and she rather felt she had done a good job for a very long time. Now, however, was an unprecedented problem. Shayl knew it was unprecedented. She'd taken great care to study the history of the Earth. There was nothing like this.  
  
Shayl continued to fret, turning this enormous problem over and over in her mind. She couldn't even figure out who to trust. The -only- one she could trust was Don, and she was fearful he wouldn't trust her. She would just have to be hopeful....and she had to find him. Shayl willed Rudy to return with good news.  
  
----  
  
"It didn't work," Raph said flatly. Ssylvar was fuming.  
  
"Shut up you little freak!" Ssylvar exclaimed.  
  
Raph's eyes flashed with anger and his fists balled at is sides. He was about two seconds from attacking Ssylvar when Orgo put up a warding hand. His face was weary.  
  
"Forgive him, Raphael," Orgo said, "He's just frustrated. That was a very difficult spell that we probably will not have the chance to cast again."  
  
Raphael did not seem placated. Leo stepped up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Come on, Raph," he said, "Orgo's right. He's just angry. I'm sure he didn't mean it."  
  
"Like hell I didn't!" Ssylvar snarled. Raph lunged forward, but Leo and Orgo both jumped in his way, holding onto him.  
  
"Let me go!" Raph yelled, struggling.  
  
"Ssylvar," Orgo said, looking over his shoulder, "I know you're mad, but try to relax. We don't need any undue tension. There's enough of it already."  
  
Ssylvar was still fuming, but he said nothing more. After a few minutes of being held, Raph finally started to calm down, but he didn't look any less angry.  
  
"Fine," Ssylvar said, "We'll just have to think of something else. In the meantime," he tore open a portal angrily, "You two turtles will stay at my house. We'll come get you when we're ready."  
  
Leo and Raph did not look like they wanted to go through that portal. Ssylvar held back a snarl, but his face was twisted in renewed rage.  
  
"Please," Orgo said, "It's for the best. We all need a chance to cool down."  
  
Leo sighed, "All right. C'mon Raph." Leo walked over to the portal and stepped through. Raph followed, but just before he entered he flashed a very rude gesture in Ssylvar's direction. Once they were gone, Ssylvar exploded.  
  
"God DAMN it! I'm gonna show that -Raphael- who's running the show here," Ssylvar sneered Raph's name as if it were an insult. He began stomping around the room. "Why didn't that spell work? We were SO CLOSE! How did that portal get disrupted?"  
  
Orgo shrugged, "I think we've been had."  
  
"Had?"  
  
"Yes. Did it ever occur to you that Gaia may have anticipated this action and chosen the new Wiyem accordingly?"  
  
Ssylvar snarled, "No, but if it occured to you, why didn't you SAY something?"  
  
"It actually didn't occur to me until after the plan had failed. Rigai won't be happy."  
  
"Yeah," Sslyvar said, "And he'll blame -me- for it. It was -his- plan."  
  
"You're a fool," Orgo said, "He can hear you, and you're really gonna get it now."  
  
Ssylvar sneered, "I'm not afraid of him, and besides, we'll get the Siyem eventually. Something worked, because the rules are all gone now! Bah! Who cares if we get the Siyem anyway? We can kill everybody if we want to! We'll get so much power, there's no -way- he can stop us!"  
  
"We'll never get enough power, and you know it."  
  
"Shut it," Sslvar said, "That's just a myth."  
  
Orgo shrugged, "If you say so. You're right about one thing, though. We can kill people now, and I'd really like to get on with that."  
  
Ssylvar grinned maliciously. "Yes, I think that would be a great idea. But first," he snapped his fingers, and his blue Xawk appeared in the air, "Go look for the Siyem," he sait to it. Orgo summoned his Xawk and told it the same thing.  
  
Both Xawks refused to depart, saying that he had gone to a place where they'd be killed if they went. Orgo and Ssylvar were both furious, and Ssylvar told them both that if they didn't go -he- would kill them, only it would be in the most painful way they could imagine. Both Xawks reluctantly departed, choosing to chance death rather than guarantee it.   
  
----  
  
Don stumbled through the portal right behind Mike and Splinter. He'd taken them to another set of sewers, though Mike could tell that they were not in New York. He passed by a plaque which read: 'City of Toronto Sanitation.' Mike wondered why Don had taken them here, but didn't get a chance to ask.  
  
"What is this? What is going on?" Splinter was yelling and squirming in Michelangelo's grasp. The turtle did not release him, but he had a very worried look on his face. Donatello rushed over to them.  
  
"Please, Master. Try to relax. We're going to explain everything," Don tried to speak in a placid tone.  
  
"No. I will -not- relax!" Splinter yelled, "-You- just killed Michelangelo, and now you've come back with another impostor! You've taken him from me!"  
  
"Master," Mike said, "Please...please try to understand. Don did kill me, but I'm ok. I'm still me. He had to kill me to stop that whirling vortex. If he hadn't, you would have been sucked in, and you both would have been killed!"  
  
Donatello nodded, "I'm so sorry," Don said, "I sorry I got you guys involved in this mess, but....if I had been dragged into that portal and killed, I think that would have doomed everyone."  
  
"Everyone?" Splinter asked, making an honest attempt to calm himself. This was not how Ninja Masters acted. Mike released him gingerly, stepping back with an ashamed look on his face.  
  
"Everyone," Don repeated, "I think that what's happening here is the worst thing that's ever happened....I'm not sure, but I got that impression from Gaia. She managed to speak to me briefly; it was she who made me kill Mike."  
  
Splinter gave a jerk at the mention of that horrible moment. He shook his head, trying to dispel the vision, "I do not understand. Why would killing Michelangelo stop that portal?"  
  
"Well," Don said, "There were two Reapers trying to get to me...their names are Ssylvar and Orgo. Ssylvar was actually the one who killed me and brought me to the Demon world."  
  
At this Splinter gave a start, but he said nothing.  
  
Don continued, "I'm still a little foggy on the details, but Gaia chose Mike to be the Wiyem because this portal was going to go through the...well, the -new- Wiyem. Ssylvar and Orgo probably killed the old one. Reapers can't kill normal Demons, but they can kill each other, so it's very possible. Well....now they can kill other Demons too, since Gaia is gone..." Don shook his head; this was all such a mess, "So, I think they were planning to use the new Wiyem as a sort of link to Earth, while he was still of the living world. Gaia used what was left of her power to make sure that the Wiyem was someone I would be near...I kinda think she had something to do with me appearing where I did when I was escaping from the demon world."  
  
"So..." Mike said, "I guess it kinda makes sense now. Those guys want you dead, because you can stop them, and Gaia made sure that they didn't get you by making sure that I became the Wiyem....boy, it's a good thing she's the one who chooses the Wiyem."  
  
"That spell wouldn't have happened if she didn't choose," Don said, "All the other Reapers besides you and me are chosen by a group vote, and all the candidates are already dead."  
  
Splinter rubbed his face, trying to make sense of all of this, "This is...very hard to digest," the old sensei finally said, "If I understand this correctly, it's very possible that ALL of my sons are dead?"  
  
Don nodded sadly, "It is possible, I'm afraid. Mike and I are dead..though, -dead- is a relative term here. I don't know about Leo and Raph. I'm still puzzled as to why they would try to kill me, and by kill me I mean kill me so that I'm gone to oblivion. Though, I'm even more shocked that Leo was actually able to injure me!"  
  
"He injured you?" Mike asked.  
  
"Yeah...cut my shoulder pretty bad; though, it's healed already." Don shrugged.  
  
"Something is not right here," Splinter said.  
  
Don nodded, "I agree. Something is foul...I just wish I knew more."  
  
Mike looked worried, "Master Splinter?" he asked, "Do you beleive me and Don? Do you beleive that we really are us? I'm afraid you might still think we're impostors..."  
  
Splinter gave Mike a sad little smile, "I think I may believe you, my son. This is all very strange, but I have seen many strange things in my long life. My hopes are certainly raised when I see you both; I can hope that, even if you are dead, you still exist."  
  
Mike smiled, "This is all pretty weird. I still can't believe I'm some kind of Demon...I don't feel that much different. Stronger...but, not much else."  
  
"There's many things you have to learn," Don said, "I haven't learned hardly anything." Don sighed, "I did learn one thing, though. All those bastards have to do is send a Xawk after me and they'll find us. Hopefully being in this cramped space will give me a chance to catch one if it appears."  
  
"A Xa-what?" Mike made a face.  
  
"A Xawk," Don repeated, "I should call Rudy. Maybe he'll know something." Don snapped his fingers and said "Xawk!" Rudy appeared in the air immediately.  
  
"Oh..." Mike said as the strange creature appeared. Splinter stared at it with interest.  
  
"Good to see you, Rudy," Don said as the creature snuggled against his cheek. Rudy responded in kind. He also told Don that he'd been hard to find and he should have just called him sooner. That made it easy.  
  
"Ok," Don said, "Do you know what's going on here, Rudy?"  
  
Rudy told him that he didn't know much, but he did know that all the rules were gone for Reapers, and that Shayl was hiding because the two Very Bad Reapers had trying to kill her. He also told Don that he was supposed to go back to Shayl and tell her where Don was.  
  
"Is that thing...talking?" Mike asked, staring at the little creature.  
  
Don smiled, "He's not really talking, you just understand him because you're a Reaper. You have a Xawk too, y'know."  
  
"I..I do?"  
  
Don nodded. "Just snap your fingers and say 'Xawk.'" Don looked Rudy in the eyes, "Go tell Shayl where we are. Tell her to get here as fast as she can." Rudy squeaked and was gone.  
  
Mike snapped his fingers and said the word 'Xawk,' and much to his and Splinter's startlement, a little white Xawk appeared in mid air.  
  
"Oh my gosh..." Mike said. The little white chittered excitedly and Mike laughed, "He says his name is Clip! What a weird name!"  
  
"You really understand those things?" Splinter said in amazement.  
  
Don grinned, "It takes a little getting used to, but I like them. Most Reapers don't, but they make decent company." Mike was scratching Clip's head as Don spoke, and the little white was making a rather strange purring sound.  
  
"He likes me!" Mike exclaimed.  
  
----  
  
Shayl nearly leapt out of her skin when Rudy returned; this time he'd come out of nothingness screaming his head off, hoping she would recognize him.  
  
"Calm down, Rudy! I know it's you....stop it! Ow...get out of my hair!"  
  
She finally managed to convince Rudy that she wasn't going to strangle him. He settled on the floor in front of her and proceeded to recount Donatello's whereabouts. He also told her that he was with the Wiyem, and some kind of giant rat. None of this made sense to Shayl, and she decided to discount it as the ramblings of a foolish Xawk. She stood up and made herself a portal.  
  
She stepped out into another cave, but Shayl realized that it really wasn't a cave like hers had been. It was more of a tunnel, clearly manmade. Rudy took off to Shayl's right, and she reluctantly followed him. She didn't fancy sneaking up on Don; she didn't want him to leave.   
  
She walked for a few minutes, when suddenly she was pinned to the wall by someone very strong. She gasped in surprise, and then heard a familiar voice.  
  
"Oh, sorry Shayl." It was Don.  
  
"Jeez..." Shayl said, "How did you hear me?"  
  
"I'm a ninja," Don said, "It's what I do best. Listen, Shayl. I'm so glad you're here...." Don paused; maybe he -wasn't- glad she was here. What if she was in on this mess too?  
  
"Relax," Shayl said, anticipating his lack of trust, "I'm not your enemy. Ssylvar and Orgo tried to kill me; they're the ones who're behind all this."  
  
Don nodded, "Honestly, the thought didn't cross my mind until right now. You did try to help me, and you seemed to respect the old Wiyem, who clearly didn't like Ssylvar and Orgo," Don sighed, "You're my only hope, anyway. I don't know anything."  
  
"No, you really don't," Shayl said tartly, "So...what is all this?" she asked, noticing with startlement the other two figures standing behind Don, "What's with the rat and the turtle?"  
  
Splinter and Mike both found that they were frowning at this sour woman. They both wondered how much Don had had to put up with her.  
  
Don sighed, "Something really, really bad happened. It all started right after I send Rudy to you about being cut off from Gaia. I was attacked and somehow managed to escape to Earth."  
  
"Who attacked you?" Shayl asked forcefully.  
  
Don blinked, "That was the weird part. It was two of my brothers, Raphael and Leonardo."  
  
Shayl nodded, "I thought something like that might happen. Ssylvar and Orgo would never try to kill you themselves."  
  
"Afraid to get their hands dirty?" Don asked.  
  
"No," Shayl said, "Afraid to die. Whoever kills a Siyem dies too."  
  
"You're -kidding-!"  
  
"I'm not. They probably brought your brothers in to be their assassins."  
  
"But...my brothers would have no reason to kill me," Don said.  
  
"Ssylvar and Orgo could have given them reasons," Shayl said ominously.  
  
"What kind of reasons?"  
  
Shayl waved her hand, "We may never know. Anyway, tell me about these two here." She guestured at Splinter and Mike.  
  
"Well," Don said, "I made it to Earth, and I think Gaia helped. Michelangelo here found me," Don guestured to him, "and brought me back to my old home from when I was alive. I talked to him and my sensei here," he guestured to Splinter, "and explained to them what happened to me."  
  
Shayl looked displeased at this, but she waved for him to continue.  
  
Don continued his explanation, telling Shayl about the portal, and about how Gaia had chosen Mike to be the new Wiyem, because apparently the old one had been killed. Shayl clenched her fists at this news; she looked -very- angry.  
  
"Great," She said, "This is really bad. Because Gaia's gone, there's nothing stopping Orgo and Ssylvar from going on a killing spree, which they'll undoubtedly do because they can consume the power of those they've killed. They'll grow exponentially more powerful!"  
  
"But..." Mike said, "Won't that make beating them impossible?"  
  
Shayl shrugged, "It might, but there's this myth that the Siyem grows in power as his subordinates grow."  
  
"Are you certain it's a myth?" Don asked.  
  
"Who knows? There's never been a reason for it to be implemented. Never before have the Reapers rebelled against Gaia. Who knows how many of them are involved in this..."  
  
"This is indeed a very serious problem," Splinter said, "And I am beginning to understand why it is happening. Your kind is bound by many rules, given by Gaia, correct?"  
  
Shayl and Don both nodded. Splinter continued.  
  
"With power comes much responsibility, so it seems that Gaia made sure that your Reapers were forced to be responsible. Some of your people clearly resented that responsibility. Who knows how far back the corruption goes? If these people truly are elected by the others, then nearly the entire group could be corrupted."  
  
Shayl nodded, suddenly feeling much respect for this old rat. She understood now why these turtles called him 'sensei.' "It's all true. Many of the Reapers are drunk by their own power, and unhappy that they can't use it and grow even more powerful. Many of them think they are the rightful rulers of the world, and it's only Gaia who is holding them back."  
  
Don nodded, remembering something, "When I first agreed to become the Siyem, Ssylvar paraded me around, telling everyone that their new leader had arrived. It was all really weird."  
  
Mike had been quiet for some time, but decided to speak up, "So...what do we do now? It sounds like these guys could kill every single person, living and dead."  
  
"They won't kill everyone," Shayl said, "They'll kill enough to gain great power...which will probably be almost everyone, and then keep the rest as their slaves."  
  
"And they will kill the living as well," Splinter sighed, "This Gaia was right; this could indeed be the worst thing to ever happen."  
  
"They probably won't kill the living; they'll get more power out of them if they kill them as Demons...they may enslave them though," Shayl said, "And you're right, this is bad. The biggest problem now is, what do we do?"  
  
Don shook his head, "I was hoping you would know the answer to that question."  
  
"I don't," Shayl said, "You are the only one who can beat them, but you need time to learn how to do it. I can teach you, but...it may do no good. As I said, every moment our enemies grow more powerful."  
  
"There's not much else we can do," Splinter said, "You must teach him, and hope that this myth of yours is actually true."  
  
Shayl sighed, but nodded, "Ok...but, we can't stay here, unfortunately. We have to go back to the Demon world."  
  
"Why?" Mike asked.  
  
"Because, most of the spells I'm going to teach you and Donatello are very destructive and would bring these tunnels down on our heads. If we go to the bedrock caverns of the Demon world, the first things Gaia ever created, we can train without fear of being smashed. The only problem is, Orgo and Ssylvar will probably be expecting us to go there."  
  
"You're gonna teach me?" Mike asked.  
  
Shayl nodded, "You need to learn how to defend yourself...for all the good it will do. You're the weakest Reaper of all."  
  
Mike shrugged, "Fine with me. I'd rather be the weakest than the strongest."  
  
"You're just like your brother," Shayl said with disgust.  
  
Don interrupted them, "Are the caverns you want to go to pretty cramped? Don asked, "If so, we can catch the Xawks they send. That's why I brought us here."  
  
Shayl nodded, "That's our only hope. Come on, we have no time to waste."  
  
"Wait!" Mike exclaimed, "What about Master Splinter? We can't just leave him here...I -know- it's breaking some kind of rule to bring him there."  
  
"There are no more rules, remember?" Shayl said, "But, it would not be advisable to bring him to the Demon world. He is comparitively weak to even the weakest normal Demon. He would have the same chance as an ant fighting a bootheel."  
  
"I'm not leaving him!" Mike said.  
  
Shayl sighed impatiently, "Very well. One of you will have to link to him."  
  
"Link?" Splinter and Don asked at the same moment.  
  
"It's fairly simple. One of you will perform a spell, which I suppose I'll have to teach you, and Splinter here will gain all of your physical stregnth and endurance, but none of your power. In fact," Shayl seemed thoughtful, "That's probably what Orgo and Ssylvar did with your brothers."  
  
"Woah..." Mike said, "So...they're not dead?"  
  
"Probably not," Shayl said, "But anyway, do you want to do it this way? You only get to do it once in your life, so..." Shayl shrugged.  
  
Don nodded, "I'll do it. No offense, Mike, but I'm a -lot- stronger than you, and Master Splinter would have a better chance with my stregnth. Um...that is, Master, if you -want- to have this happen to you..."  
  
Splinter seemed deep in thought for a moment, "Yes, I believe I will go along. Now that I am embroiled in this mess, I could not just tear myself away. I would not be able to sit at home and wonder what was happening to all of you."  
  
Shayl nodded, "Ok then. Don, you'd better listen carefully to me, because I'm -not- teaching this to you twice."  
  
Shayl then went over the spell with Don, teaching him the runes he had to speak and the motions he had to go through to make it work. It was a rather easy spell, but Don had proven that he had difficulty with the easy things, but was quite adept at the almost impossible acts. She was pleased when he seemed to pick up the spell quickly. Shayl stepped back to give Don some room, and he began chanting. At first the runes came out tenuously, but Don began to gain confidence as the spell went on. He drew a strange shape in the air, which glowed blue for a moment, and then wizzed through space toward Splinter and smacked into his right shoulder.  
  
The rat jumped back in startlement, but realized immediately that the blue flame did not hurt. It left a strange scar, burning off his fur where it had hit him.  
  
"Good," Shayl said, "Now we can go. Follow me." She made a portal, and one by one they filed through, each with something to think about; each wondering how they'd ever gotten mixed up in all this, and each wondering what on earth they were going to do to fix it.  
  
----  
  
Ok...I've got some more pictures for you guys. The first one is Ssylvar again, but I airbrushed it in Photoshop. It was kind of a quick render, but it came out looking ok. The other is a sketch of Orgo, also colorized in Photoshop. Enjoy, and thanks again for the reviews!   
  
http://www.geocities.com/animtr83/Ssylvar2.jpg  
  
http://www.geocities.com/animtr83/Orgo.jpg 


	14. The Siyem must learn!

Disclaimer: I don't own the ninja turtles, but I do own the Demon world, it's residents, the Reapers and their respective identities, and the Xawks.  
  
A/N: Well, it's happened....I've gotten busy. Ah well, I knew it would happen, but that's ok. I'll do my best for a chapter a week, maybe more if I have time. Enjoy!  
  
----  
  
A blue and a yellow Xawk appeared in the sewer tunnels of Toronto mere minutes after Don, Mike, Splinter, and Shayl had made their exit. Both Xawks were being particularly stubborn that day, and neither were unhappy that the four had gone. They also weren't in much of a hurry to figure out where they had gone next, but the Xawks knew that they would eventually have to look.  
  
For now, though, they could just stay here. The blue Xawk swooped down to the river running through the tunnel and started batting at the water. It wasn't sure what it would find, but maybe there would be a dead fish or some rotten food. The yellow Xawk saw that it was missing out on the fun, so it flew over to the blue one and tackled it into the water. Furious, the blue Xawk exploded from the water and attacked the yellow. They began to roll about on the stone floor, making quite a ruckus.  
  
A pair of small eyes watched the two Xawks diligently. The yellow and blue fought for several minutes, but eventually both either became bored or forgot what they were fighting about. The blue told the yellow that they'd better start looking and they both disappeared. Instantly, Rudy disappeared as well, telling himself that he really was the best Xawk in the world, because he could watch these idiots and make sure they didn't get away if they found his master.  
  
----  
  
Don blinked as Rudy appeared in front of his face. Immediately he tensed as he received the message about the two Xawks. He told the others, and they all began to watch intently for the imminent arrival of two enemy Xawks.  
  
They cavern they had procured as their hiding place was small and dark. Shayl had created a light for them, and they had done their best to make it comfortable. Unfortunately, there was nothing to be done about the hard stone floor or the lack of beds. Shayl had told them not to worry about food or water; even Splinter would not need it now that he'd been linked to Donatello.  
  
The minutes ticked away, each one of them becoming more and more tense. Rudy sat on Don's shoulder, Blackie on Shayl's, and Clip on Mike's. Clip showed his anxiety most clearly, his little white wings flapping constantly, his ferret head bobbing up and down. Suddenly the little white gave a warning squeal and two Xawks appeared in mid air. Rudy was the first to leap at them, grabbing onto the blue Xawk with a hiss. Blackie and Clip made it to the yellow shortly afterward, their leathery wings beating against its small yellow body as they attacked.  
  
Clip and Blackie tore at the yellow Xawk with their claws, rending the flesh from its wings. The little yellow beast fell to the floor with a piteous cry, and Blackie pounced on him, sinking her teeth into its neck. Clip fluttered backward to save himself from Blackie's wrath. Shayl leapt toward Blackie and the yellow, creating a large belt-knife in her hand. Blackie leapt back obediently and Shayl sliced the knife into the yellow Xawk's belly, tearing the life from its body.  
  
Meanwhile, Rudy was fighting the battle of his life with the blue. Don and Mike had rushed over to help, but the two fighting Xawks were flitting aimlessly around the cave, just out of everyone's reach. Rudy screamed as one of the blue's claws tore across his eye, leaving a nasty gash where his eye had once been. Furious, Rudy charged the blue, lashing his talons across its belly. The blue fell back, and Clip rushed in, his small white body fairly diminuitive to the larger blue. The blue swatted his wings at Clip and sent him into a wild spiral away toward a nearby wall. The little white slammed into the wall and fell to the ground, unconscious.  
  
Rudy screamed angrily and rushed at the blue once more. Blackie also entered the fray, tumbling into the blue and tearing at his wings with her sharp claws. The blue dove frantically and smashed into the ground, knocking Blackie off and sending her rolling. Rudy dove after them, but the blood from his lost eye was starting to seep into his good one, and he missed them, slamming into the ground himself. The blue shrieked triumphantly and zipped away from Blackie. As he informed them that they were now screwed and Ssylvar would find them, a clawed hand flashed forward and grabbed the blue Xawk by the neck. The blue shrieked in alarm and tried to struggle free, but Splinter tightened his grip and began to crush the Xawk.  
  
"You will not betray us," He said to the blue and squeezed his hand tight, breaking the back of the blue Xawk. The creature cried out sharply in pain and then fell limp in Splinter's hand.  
  
"Whew..." Mike said as he scooped up the unconscious Clip. Don didn't comment as he knealt down to inspect Rudy's wound. It was bad, and Don had no idea how to heal a Xawk.  
  
"Here," Shayl said, tearing off part of her sleeve, "Wrap this around his head. It should heal in a day or so, including that eye."  
  
"It'll grow back?" Don asked, concerned for his little friend, and also a little alarmed that an eye could grow back.  
  
"Yes," Shayl said, "At least, it should if the wound doesn't go too deep. Xawks have limited restorative powers."  
  
Don nodded and wrapped the makeshift bandage around Rudy's head; the little Xawks was moaning piteously.  
  
Mike guestured to the two dead Xawks, "They're not gonna restore anything, are they?" He asked. Clip regained consciousness at Mike's voice and squawked. Mike patted his soothingly.  
  
Shayl shook her head, "No...once they're dead, they stay that way. Orgo and Ssylvar will just get new ones, though. xawks are wild creatures that choose to help out the Reapers. It may take a while for new ones to come to them, since they let their old ones die, but more should come eventually."  
  
"Are you certain?" Splinter asked, "Perhaps these Xawks won't help those who are evil."  
  
Shayl shrugged, "That'd be too much to hope for."  
  
"There's always hope," Splinter responded.  
  
Shayl rolled her eyes, "Whatever, gramps. Blackie, take care of those bodies." The black Xawk chirped an affirmation and swooped over to the yellow's body. He grabbed it, disappeared, and promptly reappeared for the blue. No one asked where he took them.  
  
----  
  
--TWO WEEKS LATER--  
  
"Dammit!" Don pounded his fist on the wall angrily.  
  
"Why can't you learn this stuff?" Shayl asked, grinding her teeth.  
  
"I don't know!" Don said, "I guess I just don't think the right way."  
  
"You have to learn!" Shayl said, "Mike's learning it fine! Why can't you?"  
  
Don sighed. He really didn't know. Thus far Mike had been able to learn how to blast someone with fire, shake the ground with an earthquake, create a tornado, teleport, and he could even turn rocks to life! It had all been very difficult to accomplish in the small cavern, but Shayl had shown Mike how to aim his spells so they only hit who he wanted them to hit. So far all Don had learned was how to make an earthquake. It was -substantially- more powerful than Mike's had been and had nearly brought the cavern down on their heads despite Shayl's assurance that that could not happen; but that was all he could do. Shayl's aiming advice had not worked for Don.  
  
Mike had also been practicing his teleportation constantly. He didn't really have anywhere to practice...from one end of the cavern to another, but that didn't matter. It was still the most entertaining thing he'd ever done.  
  
Splinter had spent most of his time meditating, though he did take the opportunity here and there to encourage Donatello. However, it wasn't helping, and they were all starting to go stir-crazy.  
  
"I can't take this anymore," Don said, "I have to find a way to learn this stuff...I have to beat Orgo and Ssylvar..." They had been receiving constant reports about the world above from their Xawks. Rudy's eye had indeed healed, despite a rather nasty scar, and he and the others had taken turns going to the surface to see what was going on.  
  
The news had been grim. Ssylvar and Orgo had begun systematically destroying cities and people. They had also recruited legions of Vile Demons; those who had been banished to the Wastelands for their deeds in life. They were destroying city after city, every day moving closer to Bonang and total domination of the Demon World. The Xawks had reported that Orgo and Ssylvar had set up a sort of 'palace' in what was once the city of Gui. As far as the Xawks knew, they had not gone to the Living World yet. They could only surmise as to why.  
  
Shayl thought that they were just waiting until after they'd taken over the Demon world; they would find attacking the Demon World more challenging and thus more entertaining. Don had interjected that perhaps they were afraid Gaia would interfere with them, but Shayl shot him down. She reminded him that Gaia had gone away. She had no more power.  
  
The four of them could do nothing but hide in the caverns and train. They had encountered six more invader Xawks since the blue and yellow had come, and each had met their death quickly. There was always the constant threat of discovery, but so far they had not been found.  
  
"I don't know what to do," Shayl said, "You've only learned one spell, and yes, it's destructive, but it's not going to do much good."  
  
"I'm sorry," Don said, "I just can't seem to learn anything. I really don't know why."  
  
"Me neither," Shayl said, slumping down on the floor in defeat.  
  
"You know," Mike said, "Maybe it's because you're too scientifically minded, Don. You need to believe in this mystical stuff."  
  
Don shook his head, "I've tried that, Mikey, but every time I go to cast a spell, my mind wonders -how- it works. If I only had time to study..."  
  
"Well, you don't," Shayl interrupted. "You're just going to have to change the way you think."  
  
Don sighed, "I know...it's not like I don't -want- to think that way. I just can't help it."  
  
Splinter put his hand on Don's shoulder, "I believe you will find a way, my son. Perhaps you were not meant to learn these spells."  
  
"How can he not be meant to learn them?" Shayl asked angrily, "He's the Siyem! That's what the Siyem -does-!"  
  
Splinter just shrugged and sat down to mediate. Shayl huffed angrily and stomped away from them, though she couldn't get very far in the cramped cavern.   
  
Don turned away from the others and began to think about his spells. He didn't know why he could do the earthquake spell and teleport to the living world, but he couldn't do anything else. The earthquake spell had not come to him easily, and in fact it had taken him over a week to even do it. Don wondered if all the other spells would come that slowly.  
  
'Probably,' Don thought sullenly. He couldn't face Orgo and Ssylvar with only one spell and the shell on his back. He would lose, and that would be that.  
  
Don hung his head in his hands and wondered what the heck he was going to do. This was certainly not how he'd expected to spend his afterlife.  
  
----  
  
"I've had it, I'm going nuts!" Raph kicked at the wall, his foot painfully bounding off the hard surface. He didn't seem to notice.  
  
"I know," Leo said quietly. They'd been confined to Ssylvar's house for two weeks now, and they'd had this conversation nearly every day of that time. At first Leo had spent his time meditating, but soon, an overwhelming feeling of uncertainty and guilt had built up within him, and he'd lost nearly all his resolve. Raphael had done his best to knock Leo out of that mood, with limited results.  
  
"We have to get out of here!" Raph yelled, kicking angrily at Ssylvar's furniture and frowning for the millionth time when it didn't break.  
  
"We can't," Leo said.  
  
"There HAS to be a way out!" Raph yelled, angry at his brother for giving up.  
  
"Just sit down, Raph," Leo said in a patronizing voice.  
  
This infuriated Raph, and he leapt toward Leo, all his patience gone. Leo immediately prepared himself, dealing a kick to Raph's chest. Raph fell back slightly, but instantly initiated a counterattack, heaving his fist into Leo's face.  
  
Leo dodged the punch, but wasn't ready for the sweep-kick that Raph performed a moment later. Somehow, Raph was just a little bit faster than him. Leonardo fell to the ground and Raph loomed over him, an angry look on his face. However, he didn't look like he was going to attack again.  
  
"Stop acting stupid!" Raph said, "There has to be a way out of here!"  
  
"There isn't, so stop-" Leo's words were cut off as an enormous explosion shook the house. Raph staggered backward and Leo climbed to his feet, only to to be knocked off of them again by another explosion. Both turtles gaped as the entire front wall of the house blew off.  
  
"Damn!" Raph exclaimed, "I told you there was a way out!"  
  
Leo stared at the hole in astonishment, shook his head, and gathered his shattered wits.  
  
"C'mon Raph. Now's our chance!" Leo raced for the hole.  
  
"Y'don't have to tell me twice!" Raph yelled, running after him.  
  
Outside, they were both staggered by the carnage around them. Fires were raging, and Demons were running around screaming. Many of them were injured, and some were on fire. Many more lay dead in the streets.  
  
"We've got to find some cover!" Leo yelled over another explosion. They couldn't tell where the blasts were coming from, but neither turtle really wanted to find out. Raph ran over to a thin alleyway between two somewhat damaged buildings. Both turtles ran into the opening and followed it until they came to another street, this one wracked with just as much carnage as the one before.  
  
"Where now?" Raph asked, looking around frantically.  
  
"I don't know!" Leo said. He began to run, guesturing for Raph to follow. They both ducked under fallen walls and scattered stone, trying their best to dive away from explosions and shrapnel. At one point a huge explosion brought the wall of a building down on top of them, but both turtles were astonished to find that not only were they not injured, but they had very little problem climbing out of the rubble.  
  
They continued to run, dodging panicked demons and falling stone. Finally, the explosions seemed to abate somewhat, so they stopped in a doorway to catch their breath.  
  
"I wish I knew what was going on," Leo said. Raph nodded and was about to speak when a blast of energy hit him square in the chest. Leo exclaimed in surprise and looked around for their attacker, but before he could move, he was hit squarely in the face by another energy blast. By this time Raph had managed to struggle to his feet, but Leo had been rendered unconscious. Raph snarled angrily, looking around for someone to fight. Suddenly, another blast flew in, hitting Raph in the face and knocking him out. Strong hands grabbed onto the two unconscious turtles and pulled them through the doorway that had been their momentary refuge.  
  
----  
  
Ssylvar surveyed the room that had become his palatial chamber with a smirk. Finally everything was going the way it should; he was the rightful ruler of this world, as he had always been meant to be.  
  
"Stop oggling," Orgo said, interrupting Ssylvar's thoughts, "You act like this is the most beautiful place on the planet."  
  
"Well, it is," Ssylvar said sourly, "It's the seat of our empire; what could me more beautiful than that?"  
  
Orgo scoffed, "It's just a room. Besides, this means nothing as long as the Siyem still lives."  
  
"Bah," Ssylvar said, "You're still worried about that? He's probably rotting somewhere, trying to figure out how he's going to beat us!"  
  
"Exactly my point," Orgo said irritably, "And when he does figure out how to beat us..."  
  
Ssylvar waved his hand angrily, "He won't! And I don't want to hear anymore about it!"  
  
Orgo bowed his head, "As you wish. You're the boss, after all."  
  
"Yes, I am," Ssylvar said, "And you'd best remember it."  
  
Orgo carefully controlled his expression.  
  
"Now," Ssylvar said, "Let's hear about the day's destruction, hmm?" He waved his hand at a nearby Demon, who immediately jumped to his feet and ran out the door. A few minutes later he returned, escorting a young female Demoness, who looked quite a bit like a frog.  
  
"What have you to report?" Ssylvar said, reclining back in his 'throne.'  
  
The young demoness seemed hesitant to speak, and there was a look of abject fear on her face. When she did speak, it came out in a stammer, "W-well, s-sir....we attacked B-Bonang today..."  
  
"Excellent!" Ssylvar exclaimed, "How did that go? Lots of new slaves, I hope?"  
  
The frog-girl hesitated and Ssylvar frowned.   
  
"Well," he said, "Report!"  
  
The girl gulped and spoke, "It...it w-went f-fairly well, sir. B-But..."  
  
"But WHAT?" Ssylvar was starting to get very annoyed. His green eyes glowed angrily.  
  
"B-But we...we accidentally d-destroyed your house...s-sir."  
  
"WHAT??" Ssylvar leapt from his chair, eyes burning in pure fury, "What happened to the turtles I was keeping there?"  
  
The frog-girl cringed and was momentarily unable to speak. Finally, she found her voice, "We...we didn't see them, s-sir. Their bodies....we d-didn't find them. Th-they escaped."  
  
Sslyvar sat down in his chair, but his face was alight with rage. He waved his hand and three Demons marched toward the girl. "Execute her!" He said, and the Demons grabbed onto the girl's arms. She screamed and tried to struggle free; she was a Reaper and she was strong, but the three holding her were stronger, a higher rank. They led her out of the palace, ignoring her pleas for her life. Ssylvar smirked and folded his arms, but Orgo was frowning.  
  
"You've got to stop killing Reapers," Orgo said, "They're too strong to be wasted like that."  
  
"I had to make an example," Ssylvar said, "She was weak anyway, and Rigai will give us more."  
  
"How do you know that?" Orgo said, "He hasn't actually -said- he'd make more; you're just assuming."  
  
"I'm not," Ssylvar said, "He told me he would make more if we needed them. I just didn't tell you about it."  
  
"Then how come he hasn't?" Orgo asked.  
  
"Because we don't need them yet," Syylvar said, waving his hand dismissively. Orgo rather thought that Rigai wasn't telling them something, but he didn't say as much to Ssylvar. The snake-man wouldn't listen anyway.  
  
"Whatever," Orgo said instead, "Just stop killing them. We can't afford to alienate the ones who have joined us."  
  
Ssylvar shrugged, "Fine, I'll stop killing them. Sheesh, you've become a real baby lately."  
  
Orgo frowned, "Stop. I'm just trying to get you to see that we haven't won. Not yet. Hell, we don't even have Xawks right now."  
  
"Humf," Ssylvar said, "We'll get more. Those stubborn pests are just holding out."  
  
"If you say so," Orgo said.  
  
"I say so." Sslyvar smirked, his forked tongue flickering.  
  
Suddenly, a large blue Xawk appeared in the air above Ssylvar's head. He stared at it for a minute, and then turned his smile toward Orgo.  
  
"See?" He said nastily, "I told you we'd get more."  
  
Orgo frowned and crossed his arms.  
  
"His name's Slug," Ssylvar said triumphantly. "Now....Slug. Do you know what you need to do?"  
  
The big Xawk informed Ssylvar that he did indeed know what he needed to do, and he wouldn't die like his foolish brothers had.  
  
"Excellent," Ssylvar said. The big blue gave a chirp and disappeared, off to do his master's bidding.  
  
----  
  
---- 


	15. The City Burns

Disclaimer: Don't own the Ninja Turtles, do own the demon world, it's residents, the Xawks, the Reapers and their respective identities.  
  
----  
  
Raphael groaned and tried to put his hand up to his head, but he realized immediately that his hands were bound behind his back, and his feet were tied together. The turtle snarled angrily and tried to break free; he'd been aware of his apparent extra strength for some time, especially when it came to fighting with Leo or training. He could bust open a normal sandbag with one hit rather than hundreds. However, whatever was binding his hand would not break, much like the furniture in Ssylvar's home. What Raph didn't know was that he would need power to break these bonds, not just strength.  
  
The angry turtle gave up on his bindings and looked around; he was lying on the floor in a small concrete-walled room, alone. There was a cracked wooden door about three feet in front of him, and it was closed. Raph tried to struggle toward it, but quickly realized that it was futile; he wouldn't be able to open it anyway. He sighed and settled down to wait, his brain streaming with ideas of what he was going to do with his captors once he was free.  
  
Eventually, after nearly an hour, a figure in a black cloak entered the room. Raph yelled angry insults and curses, but the dark figure did not seem to notice, simply grabbing the back of Raphael's belt and dragging the irate turtle from the room.  
  
The trip was short, but Raph was absolutely furious by the time the figure walked into a large room and dropped him to the floor. The turtle bellowed in outrage, cursing everything and everyone. He was so angry that he barely noticed another figure drag Leonardo into the room. He also barely noticed that many black figures were converging on them from the dark corners of the room. Raphael hollered at all of them.  
  
Leonardo had only been conscious for a few minutes, but he was far more aware of the present situation than his brother. Leo had tried to break his bonds once and realized that he could not, so he'd given up and resigned himself to observance. Leo kept his mouth shut and watched as nearly twenty figures in black surrounded them. Raphael continued to curse loudly, even as one of the figures stepped forward and loomed over the two turtles.  
  
"Be quiet!" The dark figure bellowed. Leonardo decided that it was definitely a male voice, raspy and nearly worn out.   
  
Raphael did not stop cursing. The figure waved his hand and two more came forward with a piece of cloth. Leonardo decided that this guy was certainly their leader...whoever -they- were.  
  
The two figures grabbed onto Raphael's head and forced the cloth over his mouth. Leo could have told him that now would be a good time -not- to talk, but Raph didn't realize the consequences, and as soon as his mouth opened to utter another curse, the cloth was pulled into it. He was effectively gagged, and the two figures in black tied a tight knot behind his head to make sure he would stay that way. Raphael was even more furious, but now he could only utter muffled grunts.  
  
"That's better," the lead figure said. His two followers fell back into the crowd, each nodding to the leader as they passed. He nodded back and reached his hand up to his hood, pulling it down around his shoulders.  
  
Leo and Raph were both a little startled; this figure was a -man-. He didn't have spikes or horns or wings or scales or fur; instead he was just a tall young man, with short dark hair that stuck out messily in every direction, a thin face with a bit of stubble, and a sharp nose. In addition he sported piercings in his nose, ears and eyebrows, and a tattoo of a dragon which wound around his neck. To the turtles, the best way to describe him was that he looked very 'cool.' Leo was reminded of some of the punk rock bands that Mikey liked to listen to.  
  
"You seem surprised," the man said, "I don't have any other form to show you. This is how I look." His tone of voice did not match his appearance; he was angry, and Leo thought he sounded very tense. At the man's words the other thirty-odd figures removed their hoods as well. Most of them looked strange, with the aforementioned wings, claws, ect. A few of them looked like humans.  
  
"Who are you?" Leonardo asked, trying to sound more confident than he felt.  
  
"You don't know us?" The man asked, his face in a sneer, "You should, you work for the traitors, the ones who would kill us."  
  
"I'm sorry?" Leonardo asked, genuinely confused.  
  
One of the Demons in the crowd called out angrily, "He lies, kill them!"  
  
The lead man turned toward the voice and raised a hand. He then turned back to Leonardo and pointed to the turtle's right shoulder.  
  
"This scar marks you for it. You murder for the traitors."  
  
Leo looked at his shoulder, but his arms were twisted in a way that he could not see the scar that Orgo had placed on him. He knew it was there, but it still did not help him to understand.  
  
"I don't know what you're talking about," Leo said, "A Demon named Orgo put this on my shoulder so that he could bring me to this world. He brought me here to help my brother, Donatello. Orgo told me that he's being impersonated by an evil demon who's been killing people. Was it him who was blowing up the city today?"  
  
A murmer rose from the crowd of Demons at Leonardo's words. The lead man put up his hands for silence.  
  
"Your brother is named Donatello?" the man asked. Leonardo nodded, and the man scratched his chin thoughtfully.  
  
"That's interesting. You two certainly -look- like him, but looks in this place are quite arbitrary."  
  
Raph began to struggle more at the man's words, and Leo gave a start.  
  
"You know Donatello?" Leo asked, echoing the words that Raph so desperately wanted to be able to say.  
  
The man nodded, "Yes, we all know of him and have seen him, though none of us know him personally. Your story about Orgo is strange...he told you that Donatello was an evil Demon?"  
  
"Yeah...he said that the real Donatello was being tortured and kept in the lava pits...he even showed him to me. He showed Raph the impostor too...he put a guy in that lava; he just threw him in there like it was nothing..." Leo took a deep breath; he was starting to get upset thinking about his brother.  
  
"Very interesting," the man said.   
  
One of the demons called out from behind him; the same voice as before, "How do we know he isn't lying? He could just be making this up!"  
  
The lead Demon shook his head, "I know you're skeptical, Hal, which is why you're so valuable to our group. But," and he waved his hand toward the turtles, "Why would anyone make up a story like this? If this turtle wanted us to believe something, he wouldn't tell us something that doesn't make sense. Any Demon would know that this story is bogus."  
  
The Demon named Hal crossed his arms, "True, but, what if they're telling us that bogus story -because- they want us to think that they don't know anything? They're tricking us into thinking they're really innocent when they're not!"  
  
"Oh, come on, Hal!" Another voice echoed from the crowd.  
  
"What?" Hal responded, "Would -you- take a risk with Traitor spies? I wouldn't."  
  
The lead man put up his hands, "Enough. I appreciate your concern." He turned back to Leonardo, "I hope you can understand why we're nervous about you."  
  
"I can't," Leonardo said bluntly, "I told you...we're only here to help our brother. We're not helping any Traitors, and we're not murderers..." Leo cut off; they'd been more than willing to murder an 'evil' demon two weeks before.  
  
"Tell me," the lead man said, "What are your thoughts on Orgo and Ssylvar?"  
  
"Well," Leo said, "I thought they were ok at first, though I must admit I had my reservations when Orgo invited me to come to this world. I really only came because it seemed like the only chance I had to find out what had happened to Donatello. You see...he was murdered, and we never found out why or who had done it." Leo paused, emotion overcoming him for a moment. He regained his composure and continued, proceeding to tell about how he and Raph had gone to attack the 'evil' Donatello, how he'd escaped, and how they'd tried again to retrieve him from Earth but to no avail. He also told them how he and Raph had been prisoners for two weeks in Ssylvar's house, until the wall was blown off earlier that day.  
  
"I see," the lead man said, "So your opinion of Ssylvar and Orgo has waned somewhat?"  
  
"Absolutely," Leo said, "They both started to seem kinda shify, and being stuck in that house didn't help much. "  
  
"You don't know the half of it," the lead man said. He waved his hand and the bindings disappeared from Leo and Raph's hands and feet. The gag disappeared as well.  
  
"What the hell is all this shit?!" Raph screamed, jumping to his feet. Several of the Demons advanced towards him, but the lead man waved them off.  
  
"Try to relax," the man said, "I will put the bonds back if I have to."  
  
Raph seethed, but clamped his mouth shut. Even he could see that this was not a good situation, but it was starting to get a little better, at least.  
  
"Thank you for releasing us," Leo said, climbing to his feet as well, "Why now?"  
  
The man shrugged, "I'm starting to believe your story; I don't think Ssylvar would take such a covert approach to finding us. Orgo might, but he's not in charge. Also, I don't like to kill people. These days I can just as easily as the next Messenger, but breaking the rules seems blasphemic."  
  
"Messenger?" Leo asked. He vaguely remembered Orgo saying that word.  
  
"Yes," the man said, "You don't know what that is?"  
  
"I...I think I do," Leo said, "Orgo and Ssylvar said that when you die, you need a Messenger to get you here."  
  
The man nodded, "That's right. And all of us here are Messengers," he made a sweeping guesture. He also put a hand on his chest, "My name is Justin, by the way."  
  
"Leonardo and Raph," Leo said absently, waving his hand at himself and his brother respectively, but his mind clearly on other things, "But...Orgo and Ssylvar said that -they- were Messengers..." Leo said, confused.  
  
"Yes," Justin said, "They are, but there are many of us. Three hundred and sixty-five."  
  
"Well, that's convenient," Raph said, snorting.  
  
Justin laughed, and the turtles could both see that he also had his tongue pierced. "It is convenient," the man said, "You see, with that many of us, we don't have to work very often."  
  
"What does all this have to do with us...or Donatello?" Leo asked, not sharing the man's amusement, "You said that you know him."  
  
Justin nodded, "We do...you see, we Messengers; another name for us is Reapers, have a hierarchy of power, so to speak. Starting at the 365th, we go up in power until you get to number one, the most powerful of us all...and the most powerful of all demons."  
  
"Ok..." Leo said, glancing at Raph, who didn't look like he cared at all about what this guy was saying.  
  
"So," Justin said, "Some of us are weak, and some of us are very powerful. Orgo and Ssylvar are very powerful. Your brother is very powerful."  
  
"Don?" Raph asked, his head snapping up.  
  
"Yes," Justin said, "Donatello is the most powerful of all of us. When he died, that was his destiny to become the one known as the Siyem."  
  
"Woah," Raph said, "Hold on a sec. You're tellin' me that Don is the...the -most- powerful guy around here?"  
  
Justin nodded solemnly.  
  
Raph slapped his knee, "Ha! You really had me goin' there, pal! There's no way...unless he really was possessed by an evil demon..."  
  
"No...that definitely didn't happen," Justin said, "Your brother was made into a Messenger just as he came to us. It isn't possible to be 'possessed' by anything here."  
  
"Well," Raph said, "It just doesn't sound right. I've seen a lot of crazy things lately, but who would pick -Donnie- to be the most powerful anything?"  
  
Justin smiled, "That's how it usually goes. The one who is chosen to be our leader is usually the least likely person of all to be chosen."  
  
"It makes sense," Leo said, "If anybody would be responsible for that kind of power, Don would be."   
  
"That still doesn't explain why he threw a guy into a boiling pit of lava," Raph said.  
  
"Well," Justin said, "He may have had good reason to. When we Messengers bring someone to this world, we're pretty attuned to the type of life that person led. If it's really bad, we feel strongly compelled to punish that person."  
  
"Strongly compelled?" Leo asked.  
  
"Yep," Justin said, "Consider this; if someone who is really bad is allowed to become a free Demon, they will eventually discover that they can increase their power by killing other demons. Soon enough, we have a mass murderer on our hands that we Messengers have little power to stop because we're not allowed to kill unless we're attacked....well, we didn't -used- to be able to kill..."  
  
"What do you mean, you didn't used to be able to?" Raph asked, frowning.  
  
"Orgo and Ssylvar have done something; we're not sure what. Somehow they've weakened the spirit of the Earth and caused all of her rules to disappear. That's why this city is in the process of being destroyed."  
  
"Oh," Raph said, "So...is it really safe to be hanging out here like this?"  
  
"Not very," Justin said, "But hopefully we've added enough stregnth to these walls that this building won't blow up."  
  
"Um..." Leo said, "What if they notice that it's not blowing up?"  
  
"We'll just have to hope that doesn't happen," Justin said, "We've been on the run from them for two weeks. We used to number about forty, but several of us have been killed."  
  
"What about all the other Messenger people? You said that there were 365." Raph asked.  
  
The man shook his head, "Most of them have joined with Orgo and Ssylvar."  
  
"Why are they doing this?" Leo asked.  
  
"They were tired of rules. There were many among us who felt that we should be the rulers of this place; after all, what's the use of having all that power if you can't use it?"  
  
"So, what makes you guys different?" Raph asked, frowning.  
  
"We are the weak Messengers," Justin said, "Some of us have barely more power than normal demons."  
  
"Great," Raph said, "So, you group of weak guys is all that stands in the way of these morons from taking over this whole place?"  
  
"Not just taking over," Justin said, "They will probably kill almost everyone, and then move on to the human world."  
  
"What?" Leo exclaimed, "That can't be..."  
  
"It can," Justin said, "Though, they probably won't kill the humans. They'll just make them their slaves and wait for them to die. Once that's happened, they'll be able to harvest their Demonic power for themselves."  
  
Raphael looked skeptical, but Leo looked horrified.  
  
"...how can they be stopped?" he asked, trying to calm himself down.  
  
Justin shook his head, "The only hope is your brother."  
  
Raph snorted.  
  
"We aren't even sure if he's still alive," Justin said, "It is certain that Ssylvar and Orgo's first priority was to eliminate him. With all the rules gone, it's possible that they have."  
  
"No..." Leo said, "No, I don't think they've done it....at least, I know that they've failed twice."  
  
"Because you helped them do it," Justin said.  
  
Leo nodded, his face twisted with grief, "Yes...we tried to kill him..."  
  
"Whatever," Raph said, "That wasn't Don...it was...something else."  
  
"What else was it, Raph?" Leo snapped, glaring at his brother.  
  
"It wasn't Don! We would have known!"  
  
"We didn't really give him a chance," Leo said, bowing his head.  
  
Raph opened his mouth to speak, but abruptly closed it. He seemed to struggle for a moment with his thoughts, and finally he pounded his fist on his leg, "No! We didn't try to kill Donnie! We couldn't have!"  
  
"Ssylvar and Orgo tricked you," Justin said, "They showed you things that would make you emotional, and they knew about his death."  
  
"Yeah," Leo said, his eyes still downcast, "They did know about it. That's why I went with Orgo in the first place."  
  
Raph nodded, "Yeah, that's how Ssylvar convinced me."  
  
"They knew for a good reason," Justin said, "Ssylvar was the one who killed Don."  
  
"What?!" Raph exclaimed, but Justin put up his hand.  
  
"He didn't kill him to be a bastard; he killed him because the Earth Spirit Gaia told him to."  
  
"Well, then, I'll just kick this Gaia's ass!" Raph yelled, his eyes flashing with fury.  
  
The group of Demons seemed abashed, but Justin looked amused, "That would be impossible," he said, "But, you have to understand understand; Donatello was destined from birth to become the top Messenger...unfortunately our old one was destroyed and he had to be brought in early. We -have- to have a Siyem."  
  
"So, you just up and killed him?" Raph said, still furious.  
  
"I'm sorry," Justin said, "It wasn't our decision. Dying isn't really that bad...unfortunately the people who aren't already dead don't know that."  
  
"No, they sure don't," Raph said, crossing his arms, "This is crap. Complete crap."  
  
Leo sighed, "I know it sucks, Raph," he said, "But there's really nothing we can do now."  
  
"Like hell there isn't!" Raph said.  
  
"What would you suggest?" Leo asked.  
  
"We kick all these jerk's asses, that's what we do!"  
  
Leo shook his head, "Raph, you know we can't do that. They managed to knock us out and tie us up once; I'm sure they'll be able to do it again."  
  
Raph snorted and glared at his brother, but he kept silent.  
  
Justin was grinning slightly as the two brothers bickered, and waited until silence fell between them before speaking, "I'm sorry for what happened, but there's nothing that can be done about it now. We should worry about your brother's life in -this- world. If he's still alive, he's the only hope we have."  
  
"You said that before," Leo said, "What can he really do?"  
  
"He's the only one who has the power to kill both Orgo and Ssylvar," Justin said, "The rest of us are way too weak."  
  
"Well, what good are we?" Raph said.  
  
"He's a brand new Siyem," Justin said, "He won't know anything, he won't be able to -do- anything. If we can find him, we can help him."  
  
"You can, maybe," Raph said, "We can't do crap."  
  
"Don't worry," Justin said, "You're not useless. When Orgo and Ssylvar marked you with those scars, they gave you their raw strength. You don't have any power, but even Ssylvar would have a hard time killing you."  
  
"So, we're punching bags," Leo said.  
  
Justin smiled, "Maybe...but maybe not. Or, we may all be dead tomorrow."  
  
"Great," Raph said. "So, do we have to follow you freaks around this place?"  
  
"Absolutely not," Justin said, "But, do you really want to fend for yourself out there?"  
  
Leo shook his head, "No. We were running for our lives out there earlier. We'll stay with you."  
  
Raph shot a glare at Leo, but said nothing. Justin nodded.  
  
"Good. You run a slightly smaller risk by being with us."  
  
Raphael made a rude noise. Justin shrugged and snapped his fingers. A tiny blue Xawk appeared in the air above his head.  
  
"I'll send this guy to look for Donatello....I hate to do it, because we've already lost two Xawks looking for him, but we -have- to find him."  
  
He relayed his instructions to the tiny blue, which looked fairly distressed by its errand. Justin stroked his head soothingly and assured him that he would be fine. He was a great Xawk and would not have any problems at all. The little Xawk seemed somewhat more confident, and leap from Justin's arm with a squeak and was gone.  
  
"Will that little thing actually be able to find him?" Raph asked.  
  
Justin shrugged, "I hope so...we'll see."  
  
"I don't like this. What do we do now?" Leo said.  
  
"We wait. That's all we can do. I know it sucks." Justin shook his head sadly.  
  
"Yeah," Raph said, "You can say that again."  
  
----  
  
A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update! I meant to work on this last weekend but then I got sick and well...I didn't do anything! This chapter was much longer than I thought it would be, and I didn't expect for it to only be one scene...but Leo and Raph needed to be straightened out! Anyway, I'll try to get another chapter out this weekend...barring illness, that shouldn't be a problem! 


	16. Trouble!

A/N: Yeesh, it's been forever since I updated. Sorry about that, folks. School has been nuts. I think I did non-stop homework for like a week. Anyway, here ya go.   
  
Also...just wanna apologize if any of you got confused. The two Xawks that the new demon guys lost were DIFFERENT than what Orgo and Ssylvar lost. I should have used a different number. Sorry about that. Basically, Don and company were found by several different Xawks, from both groups of Reapers. Don, Mike and Shayl's Xawks attacked all of them because they didn't want to get caught by Orgo and Ssylvar. They couldn't have known that they were from someone else. Sorry if anybody was confused.  
  
----  
  
Slug, the giant blue Xawk, appeared in the air above Donatello's head just as he was about to cast a fire spell. He'd almost gotten it right too, but the distraction was too much. The surprised turtle called out in alarm and Rudy sped over to Don. Don made a bo appear in his hand and batted at the blue fiend. Slug was fast, though, and before anyone in the cavern could react, he was gone.  
  
"This is bad," Shayl said, grabbing her few belongings, "We have to leave now."  
  
Don nodded and he, Mike and Splinter hurried to grab their things.  
  
"Where do we go to now?" Mike asked.  
  
"We go somewhere else in the caverns," Shayl answered, waving her hand to open a portal. It unzipped in front of her and they all prepared to walk through. Just as Shayl approached the opening, a black scaly hand reached through and grabbed her by the throat.  
  
----  
  
Justin sighed; his Xawk hadn't come back yet, and he probably wasn't going to. He could only hope that the little guy had decided to run off and not look for Donatello after all. Justin didn't want to lose his Xawk, but it was better than having it die. He was certain that was what had happened to the other two they had sent out. Replacements had come shortly afterward, and all of the other Xawks had been quite upset.  
  
Justin shook his head and shifted his weight in the makeshift chair he'd cobbled together with some tape and broken wood. It was not comfortable, and he might as well have been sitting on the floor. He crossed and uncrossed his legs and few times, finally deciding to give up and stand. He walked over to where their two new comrades were practicing.  
  
"Why are you so much stronger than me?" Leo asked, picking himself off the floor for the fifth time.  
  
Raph watched his brother stand up with a smug look on his face, "Because I'm better than you, duh!"  
  
Leo frowned and set himself into a defensive posture, "Well, come on," he said, "Try it again."  
  
Raph smirked and lauched a flying kick at Leo. Leo ducked expertly, but Raph countered in mid air, cathing Leo in the back of the head with his other foot and knocking him to the ground.  
  
"Dammit!" Leo exclaimed, frustrated that he had lost not only another fight, but his composure.   
  
Justin cleared his throat, "I can explain what's going on here."  
  
"There's nothing to explain," Raph said, "I'm just better."  
  
Justin smirked. "You're better because a more powerful Demon gave you his power."   
  
Raphael shrugged, "Humf. I'm still better, stronger Demon or not."  
  
"If you say so," Justin said, still smiling.  
  
Leo sighed and climbed to his feet, dusting himself off, "Have you heard anything from that creature of yours?" he asked.  
  
Justin shook his head, the smile disappearing from his face, "No, I haven't. I think he ran out on me."  
  
"Well, send another one!" Raph said.  
  
"I should," Justin said, "But I don't know if we have one that'll go. Word's gotten around that this is a dangerous mission."  
  
"You're bigger than them," Raph said, angry, "Just make 'em go!"  
  
"We could," Justin said, "But they respect us, and we them. It wouldn't be right."  
  
Raph snorted but said nothing else.  
  
"We'll think of something," Justin said.  
  
"We're running out of time," Leo said, "I know they're gonna find us here soon."  
  
"Yeah," Justin said, "But we can escape really fast."  
  
"Escape to where?" Raph asked.  
  
"Dunno," Justin said, "We'll think of that when we have to."  
  
"I'm not fond of working without a plan," Leo said, crossing his arms.  
  
"We don't have much choice," Justin said, "We can't beat them, we can't even fight them. We're dead if they catch us. The only option is to just run away whenever they find us."  
  
"When will that be?" Raph asked.  
  
"Whenever one of our Xawks doesn't stop one of their Xawks from telling on us."  
  
"I thought you said you respected those things?" Raph asked.  
  
"We respect them, but we can't let them rat us out," Justin said, "They do what Ssylvar and Orgo say because they're scared."  
  
"I still think you should try scaring them," Raph said, frowning.  
  
"We're not going to," Justin said, turning away from them and walking back to his 'chair.'  
  
"Ass," Raph said, "C'mon Leo. More practice."  
  
Leo sighed and managed to put up his hands just as Raph threw a punch right into his face.  
  
----  
  
Shayl gasped for breath as the powerful hand constricted her throat. Sparks crackled at her fingertips as she tried desperately to cast a spell, knowing that it would not save her. Her fingers clasped around the black wrist in front of her and unleased a surge of energy. A raspy voice cackled from inside the portal.  
  
Just then, two green hands closed on the wrist, twisting it and nearly snapping the bone in two. A voice cried out in pain, and Ssylvar staggered out of the portal, releasing his grip on Shayl.  
  
"Nice job, Donatello," Ssylvar said as Shayl staggered away from him, her hands clasped to her throat. Don sneered at him, but he backed away as well. Splinter and Mike both fell into defensive crouches, and Ssylvar laughed.  
  
"That won't do any good," he said, "None of you can beat me."  
  
Mike chanted a quick series of archaic words and fire flew from his hands straight at Ssylvar. The snake man watched as it came toward him, and just before it hit his face, he threw up one of his hands and swiped it through the air. The fire disappeared as if it had never existed.  
  
"Please!" he said, laughing even more, "You're the -Wiyem-! Nothing YOU send at me will do any good." Ssylvar turned his gaze toward Donatello. "Now, I think it's time to go." The snake man's hands flew forward and an enormous blast of fire shot from them, engulfing all of them. Don and Splinter staggered backward, but Mike and Shayl both fell to the floor. Don could feel the fire burning around him, but it wasn't scorching his skin. He squinted his eyes and saw that Splinter was not having a problem either, but Mike and Shayl were not faring so well; they were both writhing on the floor in pain.  
  
Yelling, Don ran toward Ssylvar and aimed a punch at his head. The snake man ceased his firey onslaught and ducked quickly, kicking at Don's side. The turtle dodged and pulled out his bo, expertly swinging at Ssylvar's torso. The wooden weapon connected, promptly breaking in half. Don cursed his own stupidity and threw the two halves away. As he did so Ssylvar quickly recast his fire spell, once again engulfing them in flames. Don flew at him with a kick, but smoke from the fire had begun to accumulate in the cavern, and he could not see properly. Before he even knew what was happening, a tight spiral of energy surrounded him, squeezing his arms to his sides. Don struggled mightily to free himself, but just as he was starting to feel the restraints come loose, he felt himself being pulled backward, and everything around him went black.  
  
A moment later, Donatello found himself in a tiny room, one wall made of what appeared to be glass, and still bound by the energy field. He heaved his arms outward and broke the bonds. He immediately began to pound on the window with his fists, but to Donatello's surprise, he could not break it. Ssylvar was standing on the other side, smirking.  
  
"It won't work," the snake man said, "It's been magically reinforced to prevent your escape."  
  
Don was furious, "You can't do this!" He yelled, continuing to pound on the glass.  
  
"I can," Ssylvar said, "And don't bother to pound on that. You may be the strongest Demon in the world, but that doesn't mean you're the strongest -thing-. You'll never break out of here."  
  
Don ceased his pounding and narrowed his eyes at the snake man. Inwardly, his stomach was churning with worry. Would Ssylvar go back to kill his friends? And where was Orgo?  
  
As if in answer to his question, the grostesque Demon walked through a door at the end of the room Ssylvar was standing in and came up to the cage. Orgo did not look happy.  
  
"Time to go," Orgo said.  
  
"Bah," Ssylvar said, waving his hand, "Don't you realize what I've done?"  
  
"I see it," Orgo said, speaking as if Don wasn't there, "But we have other problems. We shouldn't talk here."  
  
Orgo walked to the door and waited, staring at Ssylvar. The snake man looked at Donatello for a few more moments before shooting a glare at Orgo and marching out of the room. Orgo followed shortly after, and Don was left to his worrysome thoughts.  
  
---- 


	17. Orders to Strike

Chapter 17

Disclaimer: Don't own the Ninja Turtles. Respective characters and places are stuff besides the turtles are mine, though.

a/n: Ok....I know I haven't updated in....8 months....but, I'm back! I'm SO sorry that I haven't, but my life got out of control for a while and it took a few admonishing and motivating reviews to get me back on track. This story is my baby and I didn't want to quit writing it, but life got in the way. My updates will still be slow, but not 8 months slow or anything. I'm just rather busy this semester so I'll have to update when I can. Thanks to all the people who encouraged me after I dropped off, and I hope you guys still enjoy the story!

-----

"How dare you interrupt me like that!" Ssylvar bellowed, his face just inches from Orgo's.

"Oh, shove it," Orgo said, waving his hand, "I interrupted you because Rigai wants to talk to you. He didn't sound happy."

"He talked to you?" Ssylvar sounded abashed.

"Only for a second. His voice was like a thousand needles in my brain. I don't know how you can stand it."

"I'm stronger than you, that's how." Ssylvar sneered and climbed up the steps to his throne. "I'm here, master." He said.

Why is the Siyem not dead?

"He will be soon, master. I want to make an example of him."

He should be dead now. Every moment you wait he grows stronger.

"That's just a myth. Besides, he can't do anything. He's weak."

The Siyem is never weak. You will kill him now or I will kill you."

Ssylvar flinched, "Yes, master."

----

Shayl sat up and rubbed her face. Ssylvar's flames had been very intense, and she could tell that she had been burnt pretty badly. She also wasn't sure how long she'd been out, but she saw that Michelangelo was still unconscious. Splinter was crouched over him.

"He'll be fine," Shayl said, climbing shakily to her feet. She grimaced in pain from her burns. "He and I both have burn, but they'll heal in an hour or so."

Splinter nodded gravely, "I had hoped as much. Where has that snake man taken Donatello?"

Shayl sighed, "I wish I knew. I hate to say it, but Don could be dead already."

"No," Splinter said, and Shayl was startled by the firmness in his voice. Splinter continued, "I have noticed much through this link Donatello and I have. He is very upset right now, but he is not hurt."

Shayl nodded, "Good. I've heard of emotional links before, but I didn't think Don would create one. It must have come naturally." Suddenly, a groan emanated from Michelangelo and he sat up abruptly.

"What happ...ened..." Mike stuttered, rubbing his face and wincing from the burns there.

"Ssylvar captured Donatello," Shayl said angrily, "We're screwed."

"No..." Mike said, feeling his heart sink, "There must be something we can do."

"There isn't," Shayl said, "We're screwed, the world is screwed, everybody's screwed."

Splinter put up a hand, "We are not, as you say, 'screwed.' There is always hope, young one. Someday you will learn that."

"-Young- one? I'm DEAD gramps, there's no such thing as young." Shayl sneered angrily.

Splinter shook his head, "You have much to learn. We must press on and try to find Donatello before they kill him."  
  
"And how to you propose we do that?" Shayl rolled her eyes skeptically.

"Rudy will tell us where Donatello is, and you will make a portal to him."

"That's nuts!" Shayl yelled, "We can't just waltz in there and expect to survive! We'll be meat!"

"They won't be expecting it," Michelangelo said, "We can have the Xawks find us an inconspicuous place to come in, and then Splinter and I can start doing the ninja thing."

"And what am I supposed to do?" Shayl asked.

"You shall create a diversion," Splinter said, "I know you're weaker than the other Reapers, but that does not mean you can't cause some trouble."

Shayl sighed, "That it, huh? We sneak in, I cause a distraction, and you grab Donatello. That's the best plan you've got?"

"I'm afraid so," Splinter said.

"Great. Just great." Shayl shook her head and called upon the Xawks to begin the plan.

----

"Are you going to kill him?" Orgo asked Ssylvar after his exchange with Rigai.

"Soon," Ssylvar said, "I just want to get the word out about an execution." He snapped his fingers and a six-legged demon scuttled into the room. "I want a full range announcement to go out," Ssylvar said, "Execution, in one hour. The Siyem is to die today. I want everyone who is still alive in this city to be here."

The leggy demon nodded and sped out of the room. Ssylvar snapped his fingers and Slug, the ferocious blue Xawk appeared.

"I want you to send out a message to all your buddies about this execution. I want ALL the Reapers to know about it. Not just the ones following me." Slug indicated that he agreed and disappeared.

"This is great," Ssylvar said, reclining in his throne. Orgo shook his head, wondering how much longer Rigai would put up with Ssylvar.

----

Donatello could feel himself beginning to hyperventilate. This was not how things were supposed to go. He was going to die, and everything would go to hell. Don just wished he could talk to Gaia. Just to hear her voice for a second would revive his confidence. It would, at the very least, stave off the rising panic he was feeling.

Suddenly, he felt a slight vibration in his feet, and then, he heard the loudest loudspeaker he'd ever heard in his life:

EXECUTION IN ONE HOUR. REPEAT. EXECUTION IN ONE HOUR. ALL CITIZENS REQUIRED TO ATTEND. IMMENENT DEATH OF SIYEM. ALL CITIZENS REQUIRED TO ATTEND.

Don shuddered. This was it. The last hour of his life. He didn't have the knowledge he need to survive or win; he was doomed. He slumped down on the floor of the tiny cell and buried his head in his hands. All he wanted to do at that moment was go back to the lair and work in his lab. He wanted things to be the way they were before. He wanted to go back to thinking like a scientist. Analyze, learn, study, test. No more magic, no more Demons.

Don sighed. This was all his fault. He should have been able to learn those spells; he didn't know what was holding him back. Maybe he didn't really want to learn them, or maybe he didn't believe in them. Whatever it was, Don felt the failure engulf him like a cloak. He knew the real problem was his desire to understand the spells he was trying to use, rather than just letting them flow through him. He couldn't relax and let the magic flow.

I have to relax, Don thought, Everybody else can do this stuff. I can too. But, Don knew he was just kidding himself. His mind didn't work that way. It had to analyze, predict, hypothesize, understand. That's the way Don's mind worked.

I'm fighting with my mind, Don thought, Who's a thunk it..?

He sighed again and put his head in his hands. Only an hour until death. Don could only sit and wait, contemplating his doom.


	18. Taking Action

Chapter 18 disclaimer: don't own the turtles, do own the reapers, Shayl, the Xawks, and any respective characters not from the TMNT  
  
a/n: wow..thanks for all the reviews, guys. I'm really flattered and glad that people are still around from before. I hope I get some new readers...that would be awesome, but it's you guys from before who inspired me to write again. Thanks so much! I actually think I can see an end in sight for this story, but we'll see. It's always sad to end a story, but you do always have to end at some point. Part of the reason I had before was the unsureness about ending it, but I have some ideas now, so that's good. Hope you like it!  
  
Oohh, also...this is a very complicated story and it was cruel for me to quit and then start up again without some kind of helper key. So, here we go...we'll get you caught up:  
  
1. Donatello was killed at the beginning by Ssylvar and brought to an afterlife Demon world.  
  
2. He was made into a 'Reaper.' Someone who collects dead souls.  
  
2a. Don stinks at doing magic. Shayl, the second weakest Reaper, is trying to teach him.  
  
3. There are 365 Reapers, all ranked in stregnth from 1 to 365. Don was made the Siyem, the #1. Mike was later made the Wiyem, the #365.  
  
4. Reapers live by rules. They can't kill other demons, only each other. They also can't go to earth unless they're collecting souls.  
  
5. When demons kill each other, they collect their energy.  
  
6. Demons can die, and no one knows what happens after that. The mystery of death remains even after you die. But, it's REALLY hard to kill a demon unless you're a powerful Reaper.  
  
7. Leo and Raph were tricked into coming to the demon world because they though Donatello was being impersonated by an evil demon.  
  
8. The Siyem hears the voice of the earth, Gaia, and Donatello was cut off from her. All the Reaper's rules ended when he was cut off.  
  
9. Leo and Raph were given demonic stregnth and attacked Don. He opened a portal to earth and escaped.  
  
9. Gaia's last act before being severed completely was to make Michelangelo the Wiyem. This was because Ssylvar and Orgo were using a spell to open a portal to earth that would open at the new Wiyem's feet. Gaia wanted to make sure it happened near Don so he could stop it. She forced Don to kill Mike and the portal closed.  
  
10. Rigai is the voice that Ssyvar can hear who is apparently behind the mayhem  
  
11. Xawks are the messengers of the Reapers. They can go anywhere except earth, and they can always find any Reaper or Demon if they look hard enough.  
  
There ya go. Hope that helps a bit!  
  
----  
  
Justin nearly fell out of his makeshift chair when his tiny Xawk flashed into the room, right in front of his face. The little beast was in a frenzy, and it took Justin a few minutes to get it to calm down enough to make sense. Once the message was delivered, Justin went into a frenzy of his own.  
  
"They've caught the Siyem!" he screamed, running about the abandoned building/rebel headquarters, "They're gonna kill him! God damn it!"  
  
Most of the other rebel Reapers began to panic at Justin's cries, each of them wondering how much longer they had to live with their only hope about to be executed.  
  
Raphael and Leonardo had been practicing their katas as Justin's cries reached their ears. Raphael responded with a suitable curse, but Leonardo immediately strode into the main room and put up his hands.  
  
"Everyone calm down!" He called, but the words fell on deaf ears. Raphael hurried into the room shortly after and bellowed, "SHUT THE HELL UP ALL OF YOU! WHAT KIND OF POWERFUL DEMONS DO YOU CALL YOURSELVES ANYWAY?"  
  
Raphael's words seemed to have an effect on the Reapers, and their shouts of distress quickly settled into a dull roar. Justin came up to the two turtles, a disturbed and defeated look on his face.  
  
"You two might as well begin contemplating your deaths," Justin said, "We're all history now."  
  
Leonardo shook his head, "He not dead yet, is he?"  
  
"No," Justin said, "But he will be in an hour. After that, Ssylvar and Orgo will own the world."  
  
"Well then, we've gotta bust Don out," Raph said, crossing his arms. A muffled sort of anxious laughter erupted throughout the room.  
  
"Bust him out?" a strained voice from the crowd exclaimed, "How the hell would we do that?"  
  
"Easy," Raphael said, "One of you freaks takes us there with one of your portal things, and Leo and I sneak around and get him out."  
  
"Yeah, right," the voice in the back said skeptically.  
  
"Wait..." Justin said, putting up his hand, "What makes you think you can get around in there without being noticed?"  
  
"Simple," Leonardo said before Raph could respond, "We're ninja."  
  
Justin raised a pierced eyebrow, "You'll never evade demons, they're too powerful."  
  
"Obvoiusly you've never met a ninja," Raph said, crossing his arms.  
  
"This is nuts..." Justin said.  
  
"We have to try," Leonardo said, "It's the only hope left. We can't just -let- them win."  
  
Justin shook his head, "You've got heart, both of you." A pause. "All right...I'll take you to Ssylvar and Orgo's headquarters. I'm sure Donatello is there somewhere, but once you're in, there's nothing else I can do."  
  
"Whatever," Raph said, "Let's just go."  
  
Justin sighed and waved his hand. A swirling portal opened up in front of him and the two turtles stepped through eagerly, glad to finally be doing something. Only for a moment did Leonardo wonder if this plan was too reckless...that perhaps they should have thought about -where- Justin was taking them...  
  
----  
  
Donatello paced the tiny space in his cell nervously. His time was coming soon, and he hadn't figured out a way out of here yet. The room was of simple construction, but because of the magical enhancements, Don had no hope of breaking out by taking it apart. He'd tried his earthquake spell, but that had simply caused him to fall over and hit his head on the side of the cell. The whole room had shook, but nothing had broken or even cracked. He'd also tried to teleport, but as usual he couldn't move himself around in the demon world. He couldn't even send himself to Earth, which had always been his forte. He suspected some kind of spell had been placed on his cell, though it scared Don to think they they could do something like that to him...the supposed 'most powerful demon.' Don sighed...he wasn't the most powerful anything. He was just a phony, a geeky turtle thrust into a situation he couldn't handle. Time ticked by, slowly but surely, and Don was still stuck, helpless and alone.  
  
----  
  
Shayl peered carefully out of the portal before stepping through, guesturing to Michelangelo and Spinter to follow. Rudy had shown them to an empty room in the large building; apparently Orgo and Ssylvar hadn't been able to find uses for all of the rooms in their 'palace.'  
  
"This is perfect," Mike said. Splinter put his finger to his lips. He then guestured for Shayl to come closer. She complied, and Splinter whispered into her ear, "You must go now and find the two fiends." Shayl nodded and created another portal, only looking back for a moment before diappearing.  
  
Mike and Splinter looked at each other for a moment before exiting the room, immediately becoming shadows. Shayl's job was to begin her distraction and send back a Xawk to tell Mike and Splinter that her part of the plan was underway. Splinter and Mike followed Rudy down a narrow hallway, moving as quietly as possible.  
  
Neither of them knew their way around, so hiding was going to be difficult. Michelangelo knew it was best to trust his master at a time like this. Michelangelo had also made it very clear to Rudy before they left that stealth was a must. The little Xawk informed him that since no Xawk was better than he was, he would be the quietest Xawk ever. Michelangelo reminded him that that did not mean he would be quiet enough. Rudy was a bit abashed, but promised to be as quiet as he could.  
  
Now Rudy was leading them down a narrow hallway, and Michelangelo was painfully aware of the lack of hiding places. Suddenly, Splinter ducked into an open doorway. Michelangelo followed, moments before another door at the end of the hallway opened and two dog-faced demons walked out. Michelangelo, Splinter, and Rudy watched from the shadows of the room they had entered (which was thankfully empty, and Michelangelo was again grateful for his master's skill) as the two Demons walked past their door and down the hall. No one moved for several minutes, until finally Splinter stood up and exited back into the hallway. The chase was on again.  
  
Rudy led them past several doors, until finally the hallway came to a T. Rudy turned to the left and then stopped at a closed wooden door. Michelangelo reached out his hand to open it, but Splinter grabbed his wrist, shaking his head. The wise rat then carefully put his ear to the door, which Michelangelo quickly imitated. Muffled voices could be heard, but Mike couldn't understand the words. Splinter frowned and pressed his ear harder to the door. His sensitive rat ears were able to pick up a few snippets of conversation:  
  
"...it'll be soon..."  
  
"...should go now..."  
  
"...relax, he'll...I know what I'm doing."  
  
Splinter pulled back from the door and looked up at Rudy. The little Xawk looked frustrated and confused. He wanted to go through -this- door, but apparently they couldn't. He gave a huff and sped off down the hall. Splinter and Michelangelo followed. Then, the door they had just been at opened. Splinter heard it first and ducked into an adjacent room. Mike hurried to catch up, just as Ssylvar emerged from the room. Orgo followed shortly after.  
  
"What do you mean you want to wait even longer?" Orgo asked, livid.  
  
"I want to increase the drama," Ssylvar said, "Make sure more of the rebels show up."  
  
"You're nuts!" Orgo exclaimed, "The longer you wait, the more chance someone has of rescuing him."  
  
Ssylvar barked a laugh, "Rescue him?? He can't even rescue himself! What makes you think some weak-ass demons with a thousandth of his stregnth could do any better?"  
  
Orgo scowled, "You never know. You should just get it over with."  
  
Ssylvar waved his hand dismissively, "Come on. It's time to meet our adoring fans..."  
  
The two Reapers continued on down the hallway and beyond the earshot of Mike and Splinter. Mike was feeling intense emotions of disgust as the two creatures walked on, and he knew they had been talking about his brother. His resolve deepened. He had to save his brother, never mind the cost.  
  
They backtracked toward the door Ssylvar and Orgo had just left, knowing they had little time. Ssylvar's delay might buy a little time, but who knew if it would be enough...  
  
----  
  
Shayl's portal opened up in another abandoned room near the palatial chambers. Rudy had told them of many of these rooms, and they were proving to be very useful now. She carefully opened the door and peered outside, wondering how exactly she was going to create a diversion big enough to attract the attention of Ssylvar and Orgo. Her magic was too weak to hurt anyone important, so that was out of the question. She sighed and stepped out into the hallway. She would just have to think of something.  
  
----  
  
Justin's portal opened up right in the middle of a crowd of Demons. There were a few cries of disgust as Demons were pushed out of the way by the magic, but then the crowd settled down. Leonardo and Raphael stepped out of the portal, followed shortly by Justin.  
  
"There you go," Justin said, turning to leave. Raphael grabbed his arm,  
  
"Where d'ya think you're going?" Raph said, sneering.  
  
"I'm leaving. It's not safe for me here. I'm a rogue, remember?"  
  
"Coward," Raphael said, "You've been running for weeks. Now you have the chance to actually do something, and you're still gonna run."  
  
Justin opened his mouth to speak and then shut it again. He waved his hand and the portal closed behind him.  
  
"Well, you didn't take much convincing," Leonardo said.  
  
"I wanted to be persuaded," Justin admitted, trying to shake his arm free of Raphael's grasp. "I wanted someone to tell me I was being a coward....it was just something too hard to overcome on my own."  
  
Raph rolled his eyes and released Justin's arm, "Whatever. You're here now, so quit whining. What do we do now...and why did you drop us off in the middle of a crowd?"  
  
Jusin shrugged. "I don't know...I thought you might be able to be sneakier if you started out in public...you know, like they wouldn't be expecting it..?" Justin looked embarassed, but Leo smiled.  
  
"It's a good idea. We can start from here." Leo said, "We just need to come up with a plan. We need to get inside that place and find Don. I just have no idea how to do that."  
  
"Look for him, what else?" Raph said.  
  
"It's not that easy," Justin said, "It's not like we know the layout of the place."  
  
"Ok," Raph said, "That's why we look around. Figure it out."  
  
"We don't have time for that," Leo said, "The execution is due in 20 minutes."  
  
"So, we'll make time," Raph said, and then turned around a punched a nearby tiger-demon in the face.  
  
The creature was knocked backwards, right into another Tiger demon. The two exchanged angry growls before the first lunged back at Raphael. The turtle eagerly punched him again, this time knocking him into a demon that looked more like a blob than a person.  
  
Quickly, other Demons in the crowd began to notice and started attacking Raphael, who gladly fought back. Soon the fighting began to spill over into other groups, and Leo realized what Raph was doing. He was starting a riot. Chaos would be their ally.  
  
Leo smiled and accepted a punch from a poodle-demon. He was careful to join in the fights with a tender punch, not wanting to harm anyone with his superior stregnth. He wasn't so sure Raph would be holding back. Leo also noticed that no one was attacking Justin. Apparently they knew better than to pick a fight with a Messenger.  
  
----  
  
Shayl entered a hallway with many open windows and immediately noticed the sounds of commotion coming from outside. She hurried to one of the windows and carefully peered outside. What she saw was an enormous crowd of demons, all fighting with each other. The fight was so intense, in fact, that the guards had been dispacted from within the palace in an attempt to contain it.  
  
Shayl couldn't believe it...a distraction had created itself! Still, was this the kind of distraction she needed? Would it even last? She needed to find a way to compound the problem...maybe even get Ssylvar and Orgo involved. She'd sent Blackie to locate them, and she had done well, preventing herself from being seen. Shayl hurriedly tore open a portal, sending Blackie off with a message to Splinter and Michelangelo as an afterthought.  
  
----  
  
Ssylvar stopped in midstride as the sound of fighting reached his ears.  
  
"What the hell is that?" he snake man exclaimed, striding up to a window. His face wrinkled into a sneer as he witness the building riot outside.  
  
"What's going on?" Orgo asked, walking up to the window.  
  
"A damn riot, what's it look like?" Ssylvar asked. He began to walk down the hallway again.  
  
"What do we do about it?" Orgo asked.  
  
"Nothing," Ssylvar said, "Let them fight. It's time to go get the Siyem. They'll settle down once we start the execution."  
  
----  
  
a/n: all right...I wanted to get a longer chapter out there for you guys before I started another week of homework. I'll be back in a little while with some new chapters, but I think I want to get a few written before I post anything, just for some insurance against writer's block (since that was my problem last time). Look for a new chapter soon, though! I've already started on the next one. 


	19. Bad News

Don struggled, but he couldn't break out of Ssylvar's energy bonds. The snake man sneered at him, his face curled into a smug grin.  
  
"I'm so sorry," Ssylvar said, "But we can't have you trying to escape, now can we?"  
  
"Bite me," Don said, still struggling.  
  
Orgo spoke from the back of the room. "Come on. Time to go."  
  
Ssylvar waved his hand and Donatello floated out of the door. Ssylvar followed behind, laughing to himself. Orgo just shook his head and imagined a knife sticking out of Ssylvar's back.  
  
----  
  
"Shit.." Michelangelo couldn't suppress the curse as he watched Sslvar take Donatello out of the room they'd been about to enter. Rudy had led them through several sterile and empty hallways before coming to this one, which was rather different than the rest. It was full of ornate statuary, which Mike thought was rather creepy. However, when the door opened suddenly Mike and Splinter had something to suck behind. The snake man, Orgo and Don began down a corridor away from Mike and Splinter, so they followed cautiously. This departure could only mean one thing; the execution was imminent.  
  
----  
  
Shayl's Xawk had followed Ssylvar and Orgo all the way to Don's holding cell, and she knew where to go to get there, but she wasn't sure she wanted to. Shayl didn't like to admit it, but she was terrified of the idea of revealing herself to them, because she knew she could never get away. Also, it would serve no purpose. Nothing she could throw at them would break the bonds holding Donatello.  
  
Blackie returned to Shayl with the news that Don was on his way to the execution stage. Shayl set her jaw and made a decision. She waved her hand violently to create a portal and stepped through.  
  
----  
  
Leonardo shoved past a duo of dueling lizard men, trying to work his way out of the riot. He'd had to pop Raph in the face to get him to stop fighting, and now they were both working their way toward a set of doors leading into the palace. The progess was made easier by Justin, whom people were avoiding like the plague, but not everyone saw him immediately. Those who actually bumped into him prostrated themselves on the ground, begging for forgiveness. Justin just shook his head and kept walking.  
  
"Great, Raph," Leo said, pushing aside another Demon, "You start a riot when we're in the MIDDLE of the crowd. It'll be over by the time we get to the doors."  
  
Raph sneered at his brother, "At least I did something. You were just standing there with your thumb up your-"  
  
"Enough," Justin interrupted, "We're almost there."  
  
And indeed they were. Raph muscled his way past a few more Demons and reached the doors. He threw them open and ducked inside quickly.  
  
"Wait, Raph!" Leo exclaimed, but it was too late. Raph skidded to a halt, caught his balance, and found himself face to face with a sniny black snout and two glowing green eyes.  
  
"Well, hello Raphael," said a familar voice, "I was wondering what had become of you."  
  
----  
  
Donatello gasped, horrified. Raphael had just barreled right into Ssylvar...Don could see Leo and what appeared to be a Reaper standing just outside of the doorway. The unknown Reaper looked terrified.  
  
"Well, hello Raphael," Sslvay said, "I was wondering what had become of you."  
  
"Don!" Raph yelled, seeing his bound brother. Before Don could tell him to stop, Raph lunged forward. Ssylvar snorted, waved his hand, and Raphael froze in place.  
  
"No!" Leonardo yelled, advancing into the room, "Let them go!"  
  
This time, Orgo laughed, "You're so stupid," he said, "You two were so ready to help us before, and now you're running around with rogue Messengers, having delusions of grandeur about stopping us."  
  
Justin went pale at Orgo's words, and turned to run away. Orgo laughed and snapped his fingers, and just like Raphael, Justin froze in place.  
  
"Dammit.." Leo said.  
  
"You can't win," Ssylvar said, "It's hopeless." He looked at Donatello for a moment, and then looked back to Leo, "Your brother is supposedly the strongest of all of us, and even -he- knows it's over."  
  
Leo looked at Donatello, but Don wouldn't meet his eyes. Don just sighed and looked at the ground.  
  
"Don.." Leo said, "Do something...you're the only one who ca-"  
  
Leonardo was abruptly cut off as a mass of flames and smoke washed over them. The flames didn't hurt, but the smoke burned his eyes. Leo backed away from the two trecherous Reapers and began to cough. He almost jumped out of his skin when a hand grabbed onto his forearm. He whirled around and was staring right into the face of a giant rat.  
  
"Master Splinter!" Leo exclaimed, flabbergasted.  
  
"We must escape!" Splinter said. Leonardo was astonished to see Michelangelo trying to pull Raphael's frozen body across the floor. Suddenly, the smoke cleared completely. Raucous laughter broke out a moment later.  
  
"You think a weak flame spell could stop us?" Ssylvar said, "Idiots!" he waved his hand violently and Leo, Mike and Splinter all froze. "This will be a grand execution today!" Ssylvar began laughing uncontrollably.  
  
Orgo shook his head, "Come on, you freak, we're late."  
  
Ssylvar wiped a few tears from his eyes and nodded. "All right, let's go." Magical bonds were created for all of the new prisoners, and they began heading toward the execution stage.  
  
Don felt tears in his eyes. Now it wasn't just him who had to face death today. It was everyone he cared about.  
  
No..Don thought..I can't let this happen. I just can't.  
  
Ssylvar pushed open a door and Don could see the light from outside, and finally, the stage where he and his friends would die.  
  
I can't let this happen.  
  
---- 


	20. Showdown

Chapter 20  
  
The execution stage had been carefully prepared to look grandiose and important. It was tall, and the front of it was lined with a gold trim and an ornate vine pattern. There was nothing on the stage itself, but hanging behind it was a banner that read "Stamp Out Disobedience, Follow Your Rightful Leader" in big red letters.  
  
There was ample room in front of the stage for a crowd to gather, and it had because of the citywide order to do so, but at the moment no one was paying attention to the stage. Everyone was fighting, in a riot that had grown to epic propotions thanks to the underlying tension created by Ssylvar and Orgo; Raphael had simply been the spark to the flame.  
  
As Ssylvar and Orgo made their way onto the stage with their prisoners, they made no reaction toward the severity of the riot. In face, Ssylvar watched it for a few moments with a look of amusment on his face. Finally, he put up his hands and began to chant runes.  
  
The sky turned completely black and the ground rumbled. Everyone in the crowd gasped and many lost their footing as a large earthquake rattled them into silence. Ssylvar was pleased to see that once the earthquake had ended everyone was looking at him, and he could see the fear in their eyes.  
  
"My people," the snake man said, guesturing his scaly arms out toward the crowd, "You have come here today out of loyalty to me to witness the beginning of a new age." He paused, listening for sounds of dissent from the crowd. He heard none, "Today we will execute the traitor Siyem, who has not taken up his duties to the people properly. He will pay for his crimes, as will those who have tried to help him." Ssylvar made a grand guesture toward the other prisoners on stage, and as one, they all unfroze, their magical bonds holding them fast. Raphael immediately began to yell, but Ssylvar waved his hand and Raph fell silent; an invisible gag had been placed over his mouth. No one else said anything, each lost in their thoughts.  
  
Leonardo was still trying to plot a way out, but he knew his stregnth would not aid him. Justin was silently panicking to himself. He didn't want to die...it was hard for Reapers to come to terms with death, especially when they'd lived as long as Justin had. Michelangelo felt numb...he felt like his mind was in another place, floating somewhere beyond his reach. Splinter was simply meditating, finding peace with himself. Raphael was seething, wanting more than anything to rip Ssylvar's head off and kick it into the lava pools.  
  
Donatello, unlike the rest, was analyzing. The stage was interesting to him, especially the blatant signage that Ssylvar had put up. He wondered how they were going to kill him without causing damage to the crowd. He was also wondering how they would kill him at all, but then the answer came...and Don was very upset when he saw it.  
  
Fifteen Reapers approached the stage, each with a person walking in front of them. Don could tell just by looking that these people were just normal humans. The difference was that they each bore a scar on their shoulder, a scar that Donatello easily recognized. The Reapers had linked to these people, and the people were going to kill Don. Worse still, the humans who would do the killing would die as well...anyone who killed the Siyem died too.  
  
Don was sure these people didn't know that. They probably thought they were earning their lives by doing this. Don wasn't going to stand by and let that happen. At least he could give them a chance.  
  
"Hey!" Don called out, causing everyone in the crowd as well as Ssylvar, Orgo, and the rest of the prisoners to look right at him. Don swallowed a bit in nervousness and then continued. "You can't let those people execute me. They'll die!"  
  
"Shut up!" Ssylvar exclaimed and waved the humans forward, "He's a traitor. Kill him and continue your lives."  
  
"He lies!" Donatello said, struggling in his bonds. Ssylvar waved his hand and Don felt a magical gag form over his mouth.  
  
"The Siyem will be the first to die," Ssylvar said, stepping off to the side. There was about twenty feet of open space on the stage now between Donatello and the humans. They began to advance.  
  
No...Don thought...I can't let this happen....  
  
He tried to struggle, but he couldn't break the bonds. He still didn't know any magic. He'd been taught it all, but he just couldn't do it.  
  
Suddenly, a portal opened up right in front of Donatello. Ssylvar stepped forward quickly, but stopped when he saw who was exiting.  
  
"Shayl!" he guffawed, "Are you really suicidal?"  
  
Shayl waved her hand and her portal closed. The humans had stopped moving and were now looking at Shayl in confusion.  
  
"Turn around and leave," Shayl said, her voice low and ominous. Many of the people looked like they wanted to obey her, but they all stayed put. Ssylvar stepped forward, placing himself between Shayl and the people. He leaned forward and brushed his hand across her cheek. Shayl sneered and spit in Ssylvar's face, but the snake man simply laughed.  
  
"You're trying to provoke me," he said, amused. Shayl didn't respond.  
  
"You must be suicidal," Ssylvar said, "You can't escape now, even if you wanted to."  
  
"I don't want to," Shayl said, "This is a last stand."  
  
"I thought so," Ssylvar said, "Now, die!" He extended his hand toward Shayl and grabbed her throat violently. She struggled to break free, but it was impossible. Ssylvar's hand tightened and Shayl began to sputter and gag.  
  
"NO!" Donatello and Michelangelo exclaimed at the same moment. Ssylvar barked a laugh and squeezed harder. Shayl's face began to turn blue.  
  
Don felt a feeling of desperation unlike anything he'd ever felt before. He renewed his struggle on the energy bonds holding him.  
  
Shayl's face turned a deep purple and drool began to dribble from her mouth. Ssylvar lifted her off the ground and her feet kicked at him, but of course it did nothing to stop him. Her feet continued to kick for another agonizing minute, and then finally, they hung limp. Ssylvar barked a laugh and released Shayl's neck. Her body slumped to the ground, and everyone present could tell that she was dead.  
  
Don coudln't beleive it. Shayl had walked right up to Ssylvar and died, just like that. He'd never been more furious in his life; all Don wanted to do at that moment was kill Ssylvar and end the pain he had caused so many.  
  
Ssylvar continued to laugh and make a guesture toward Shayl's body. It began to glow with an eerie blue light, which curled around and toward Ssylvar's arm. It wound around his body twice and then was gone; Shayl's power had been absorbed into him. Ssylvar was now even stronger.  
  
The white hot fire of anger burned within Donatello as he watched Ssylvar descecreate Shayl's corpse. He clenched his fists and began to flex his muscles against the magical bonds.  
  
Michelangelo was also burning with anger, but he was suddenly distacted from his own fury by the anger he felt coming from Donatello. It wasn't that he could just see how angry Don was; he could literally feel it coming off in waves, washing over him. Mike could almost see the anger.  
  
Ssylvar turned away from Shayl and back to the prisoners, "Time for the execution," he said ominously, drunk with his own power.  
  
Donatello cried out, his eyes suddenly starting to glow red with his rage. The other prisoners noted this with surprise, especially Leonardo and Raphael. Ssylvar stopped and stared at Donatello for a moment, but then waved for the executioner humans to advance once again. They didn't get far, however, before Don screamed out in rage once again. This time his whole body was glowing red, and his bonds, which had previously seemed so unbreakable, melted away from his body and formed in a puddle at his feet.  
  
At this, the humans stopped, and most of them turned and ran. Sslyvar screamed at them to come back, but they weren't listening. Donatello walked several paces toward Ssylvar.  
  
"You shouldn't have killed her," Don said, his voice raspy and almost double-toned.  
  
Ssylvar snorted, "She was weak. She deserved it."  
  
Don's hands clenched into fists, "You've done enough. This ends now."  
  
"You can't beat me," Ssylvar said, laughing, "You don't know anything."  
  
"I learned something just now," Don said, raising his left hand above his head, "I learned that I've been too busy trying to figure this stuff out," A glowing ball began to form above his hand, "I usually analyze everything, but what I really needed to do was get pissed off." The energy ball crackled and sputtered with electricity. Ssylvar back up two paces and crouched defensively.  
  
In the background, Orgo carefully slipped offstage. He disappeared into a doorway and was gone without anyone noticing.  
  
"You can't beat me!" Ssylvar screamed, balling his hands into fists. Energy began to crackle around his body. Don advanced toward him, looking like a thing possessed. Everyone on stage was watching intently, but most of the crowd had scattered. Michelangelo was the only one seemingly not paying attention. His eyes were closed and his head had lolled off to one side.  
  
Ssylvar snarled and thrust his hands toward Donatello, releasing an exposion of electric force. The blast hit Don directly, knocking him back several feet. The observers onstage could feel the electricity bearing down on them, but Don took the brunt of the attack. His own energy ball began to fade as the blast intensified, until it was stuffed out. Don staggered and fell to his knees, his skin beginning to blister in many places from the heat.  
  
Ssylvar laughed, "You see?" he said, cutting off the barrage, "You're weak, just like Shayl. You should have let -me- teach you how to do magic."  
  
Donatello stood up shakily, "She did what she could." His voice sounded defensive. He'd lost a bit of his resolve.  
  
"What's the matter?" Ssylvar scoffed, "You stop being angry?"  
  
Don took an agressive step forward, "No. Were you hoping I had?"  
  
Ssylvar took a step forward as well, "I wouldn't mind seeing you cry."  
  
"I'll bet you'd like that," Don said, raising his left hand again, "Let's go."  
  
Before Ssylvar could comment, Don shot a blast of fire at Ssylvar. The flames engulfed the snake man, and for several moments, no one on stage could see him. Don screamed as the flames blasted from his hands, his eyes alight with anger. Finally, he stopped, and as the smoke and flames began to clear, the sound of laughter could be heard. Ssylvar stepped forward out of the smoke.  
  
"Nice try," he said, rubbing his face, "That -did- hurt, but as you can see, I'm fine."  
  
"Dammit!" Don said angrily. He'd put everything he had into the blast.  
  
"I'm tired of this," Ssylvar said. He extended both of his arms and sent out an incredible blast toward Don. Electricity and fire, twining together, smashed right into Donatello, knocking him backward and to his knees. He screamed in agony as his flesh began to burn.  
  
"Die!" Ssylvar screamed, this time not letting up his barrage.  
  
"NO!" A scream erupted from behind Donatello. Then a huge flash of light was seen, and Ssylvar's flames snuffed out.  
  
"What?" Sslyvar exclaimed, staggering back. He looked at Don, who was still on his knees. The snake man shifted his eyes around, wondering what could have happened. At that moment, a figure stepped out of the smoke from Ssylvar's fire. It was Michelangelo.  
  
"Stand down, Ssylvar," Mike said. He looked positively furious. Leo and Raph watched in complete astonishment. This wasn't how their mild, fun-loving brother was supposed to act. Of course, Don hadn't been acting too normal either.  
  
Ssylvar guffawed. "You?? The Wiyem? Don't make me laugh."  
  
Don turned his head at the sound of Mike's voice. He wondered how the heck Mike had gotten free, but he was still scared for his brother, "No, Mike," he said, putting up his hand weakly, "Stay out of this! Save yourself."  
  
"No, Don," Mike said, his voice rising in intensity, "I'm not backing down. I know what I need to do here." Mike put up his hand and pointed at Ssylvar. The snake man just laughed and crossed his arms. Mike's hand then began to move slowly, away from Ssylvar. Eventually it was pointing at Donatello. Michelangelo began to chant, and blue flames erupted from his hand, arcing around Donatello. Ssylvar watched with interest, but still stayed put.  
  
As the blue flames encircled him, Don felt rather strange. The pain that he'd been feeling began to melt away, and he could feel a tingling in his extremeties. Suddenly, a surge of power flashed through Donatello, and he bolted upright, electricity arcing from his body to the ground. He heard something in his mind, a small work of encouragement. Faint, but substantial. He began to advance on Ssylvar. Mike ended his magic and stepped back.  
  
"What is this?" Ssylvar said, taking an involuntary step backward, "What did he just do to you?"  
  
"He did his job," Don said, "It seems that the Wiyem has a greater purpose than we originally thought, Ssylvar."  
  
"What..." Ssylvar sputtered, "No...stay away from me!" He snarled and blasted electricity at Don yet again. This time, Don threw up his hands and leaned into the blast. The electricity flowed around him, and Don felt it burn, but then, he felt it begin to dissipate, as his body absorbed Ssylvar's wrath.  
  
"My turn," Don said, balled his hands into fists, barked out a few runes, and fired off an enormous blast of energy at Ssyvar. The snake man shrieked as the electricity hit him, engulfing him in fire. He began to stagger as Don increased his onslaught, and finally, Ssylvar stumbled, fell to his knees, and then toppled over onto his face.  
  
Don cut off his barrage, falling to one knee in exhaustion. Michelangelo quickly ran past Don and up to Ssylvar, bending over the snake man.  
  
After a few moments, "He's dead..."  
  
Don heaved a heavy sigh and put up his hand. Sslyvar began to glow with an ethereal blue light, and just as had happened with Shayl, a blue flame began to encircle Ssylvar's corpse. However, Don waved his hand forcefully and the flame flickered, twirled and then dashed away, disappearing into the sky.  
  
Don sighed heavily and proceeded to pass out, face first on the stage.  
  
----  
  
a/n: we're almost done here, folks. One more chapter, I think. 


	21. Reward

Disclaimer: I don't own the Ninja Turtles, but I do own a bunch of other characters in this story.

A/N: Blargh…sorry folks. I am a terrible updater. I know there were a few reviews of people who were angry at me for stopping right before the end, and I apologize. As usual, I blame it on school. Of course, there's no school now, so I can finish this. I hope ya'll will forgive me.

----

Pounding. Pounding like a metal hammer on an anvil. That's all Don could envision as he floated about in a state of semi-consciousness. He'd had headaches before, but nothing that could actually permeate the dreamlike state between waking and sleeping. In fact, it was so permeating, he was forced awake completely by it.

"Uhgh…" Don muttered, his hand coming to his eyes.

"He's awake!" A voice shouted, and Don cringed. He was swimming in too much pain to recognize the voice, but he was willing to bet it was Michelangelo.

"Ugh.." Don said again, unwilling to speak at the moment.

"How is he?" Another voice said, rather too loudly. Don thought this might have been Leonardo. He wasn't sure, and he wasn't going to take his hand from his eyes.

"Off…light…please," Don said.

"Migraine," an unfamiliar male voice said. Someone turned off the lights.

"Thanks," Don said, carefully removing his hand from his eyes. There are some spots, but otherwise it's not as bad as he had thought it would be.

"Don!" Mike said, and this time Donatello recognized his voice and could slightly make out his silhouette in the darkness, "Are you ok? You've been out for hours!"

"My head hurts," Don said, "But I guess you guys knew that." Don feels panic rise in him suddenly, "What happened after I blacked out? Did Orgo attack you?"

Mike shook his head, "No. He's missing. The Xawks can't even find him…or won't. We're not sure."

"Great," Don said, "Is everyone ok?" ….'except for Shayl..' Don thought sadly.

"Yeah," Mike said, "We've got a problem, though."

"What's that?"

"There're about eighty or so rogue Reapers running around still causing trouble."

"Yay," Don said, "Well, at least Ssylvar's history."

"There are many powerful Reapers still left," the unfamiliar voice from earlier said. Don squinted but could not make out his figure in the dark.

"Who're you?" Don asked.

"My name is Justin," he said, stepping closer to Don so that he could be seen, "I'm one of the lower-ranking Reapers who was on the run from the mutinous Reapers."

"He helped me an' Leo," the unmistakable voice of Raphael said from the darkness.

"Ah," Don said, still trying to deal with the fact that his whole family was there.

"So, uh…what do we do now?" Mike asked, "Try to stop the Reapers?"

"I guess," Don said, "We'll have to do someth-"

It will be taken care of. I have already sent them to oblivion….all save Orgo. I cannot find him, which is odd.

"Gaia!" Donatello nearly leapt out of his seat, "You're back!" Everyone in the room except for Michelangelo and Justin stared at Donatello quizzically.

I am back. Your actions have ended the mysterious restraint placed upon me. It is good to see that you are in one piece.

"Yeah…barely. My head hurts." Don said, and then suddenly looked up at the others in the room. "I'm talking out loud, aren't I?"

"Yeah," Mike said.

"Oh..sorry. I'll think to Gaia instead."

That won't be necessary. An extremely loud voice said, filling the room with its power. Everyone jumped, including Don.

"What's that?" Raph exclaimed.

I am Gaia, spirit of the Earth.

"No way.." Raph said, looking around the room.

Way.

Don grinned, but everyone else simply looked confused.

I have chosen to speak to all of you because I owe you all a debt of gratitude. Very few will ever know how close this world came to destruction.

"I can't believe I'm hearing Gaia's voice…" Justin said, awestruck.

"You have provided us a great honor, Earth Spirit," Splinter said.

The honor is mine. Most of you know that I do not speak to many. Most believe I can only speak to the Siyem, but that is not true. I can speak to all if I wish. And I wish it now.

"You contacted me earlier today," Michelangelo said, "I…I didn't hear words, but I felt something. Something that made me know what to do to help Donnie."

What small amount of power I had left was given as influence, but what you did was entirely yours. You figured it out, and for that I am grateful. I wish to reward all of you for the effort you have made to save me.

"Excuse me, Earth Spirit," Leonardo said hesitantly, "But I don't think I deserve any kind of reward. I tried to –kill- Donatello…."

But you did not. Nor did Raphael. You realized the truth and earned the trust of Justin.

Leonardo looked somewhat pacified, as did Raphael, who had been listening intently to Gaia.

And now I shall reward all of you. Gaia said, First of all, Justin. You remained loyal to me in the face of temptation and terrible odds. You shall be promoted to second Reaper. Do not let the power consume you as it did Ssylvar. The rest of your group of rebels shall be given increases in rank as well. As for Leonardo, Splinter and Raphael, you shall be returned home, but trust that when it comes time for you to return to this world in death, you shall be given the option to become Reapers yourselves. The bond of strength that was formed from Ssylvar and Orgo cannot be broken, which I regret. Raphael and Leonardo's spirits will be tainted with their influence for eternity. Splinter and Donatello's cannot be broken either, but it is a more honorable joining. For all of you I provide a warning. You may not ever use your strength to kill, unless you are acting in self defense. You will feel great pain if you are in the wrong.

"Great. My spirit's tainted." Raphael said.

For Michelangelo and Donatello I have a very unprecedented gift. Most would think I would promote Michelangelo to a stronger position, but the Wiyem is where I need him. It is a most honorable position, and I will be speaking to him regularly from now on as I do with the Siyem. My true gift is that I will be allowing both of you to return home with your family to Earth. You will still be demons, I cannot reverse that, but I can give you permission to tread Earth beyond your Messenger duties. You must return to the Demon world at least once a month, and you must make your yearly one-week Messenger trips. Also, your demon magic will not work on Earth, save the portals needed to return to the demon world. You will have strength, but again, it must not be used to kill. You will be able to call your Xawks at any time, however.

The announcement that Michelangelo and Donatello could return home with their family caused a stunned silence among the group. Then, with a whoop, Michelangelo jumped at Leo and Raph and gave them a huge hug.

"We're going home!" He cheered.

"Get offa me!" Raph exclaimed, but he was smiling as well. In fact, the only one who wasn't smiling was Donatello.

"What about Shayl?" He asked, ignoring the ruckus in the room.

She is gone, I'm afraid. Gaia said, sadness in her tone, She made a wonderful sacrifice, and I will make certain she is remembered forever.

"Can't you bring her back?" Donatello's voice was strained. Everyone else had fallen silent to listen.

I cannot, but do not despair. The secret of death after the Demon world has been given to her.

Don sighed, "I understand. She was a good teacher…and a good friend."

She was.

There was silence for a moment as the group honored Shayl's passing, knowing that her sacrifice had turned the tide in the conflict.

The silence was finally broken by Gaia, I will now send all of you home. Donatello's migraine should abate in a few days. It is very straining on the Siyem to have his power boosted by the Wiyem. That's why it isn't done very often.

"Great," Don said, "Do you think you could send us back to someplace dark?"

Certainly, Gaia said. As she spoke they were engulfed in energy and the four turtles and Splinter felt a strange pulling sensation on their bodies.

"Good-bye Justin!" Leonardo called, realizing that they were leaving.

"We'll meet again, Leonardo!" Justin called back, just as the group of five vanished.

----

"It's so good to finally be back!" Michelangelo said, plopping down on the couch.

"I'll say, Raph said.

"I think this place needs to be cleaned up," Leo said, inciting a groan from Mike.

"Leonardo is right," Splinter said, "No one has been here for two weeks. It's musty."

"Aww….do we have to?" Mike whined.

"Yes Mike, we have to." Leonardo said.

Donatello watched as his family bantered. He felt tears well up in his eyes, and surprised, he brushed them away quickly. Splinter saw them, however.

"It is good to have you back, Donatello," Splinter said, embracing his son.

"Yeah.." Don said, "I can hardly believe it." Before long each of his brothers had joined in the embrace, and Don felt happier than he'd ever felt in his life.

"Thanks, you guys," Don said.

"No Donnie, thank you," Mike said, "Thanks for coming back from the dead and saving the world. Thanks for being you. Thanks for being there for us."

"Yeah bro," Raph said, "Thanks a lot. And I promise I'll never make you go out for TV parts ever again."

Donatello grinned, "I appreciate that, Raph, but I think I wouldn't mind fixing a TV after all of this."

"Great!" Raph said, "Cause it's still broken. Maybe you can fix it by tonight so I can watch the playoffs!"

"How do you even know that there are playoffs on, Raph?" Leo said.

"I just know. I've been thinking about football since we left."

Don grinned at his brothers. He didn't mind fixing the TV at all. In fact, he was rather looking forward to it.

----

The End

a/n The End! I finally finished it! Thanks so much to you guys who stuck around even when I went on hiatus…twice! Thanks for all the reviews and support…it helped me make it to the end of this.


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